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AMERICANIZATION 

PRINCIPALS  OF  AMERICANISM 

ESSENTIALS    OF    AMERICANIZATION 

TECHNIC    OF    RACE-ASSIMILATION 

ANNOTATED    BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Compiled  and  Edited  by 
WINTHROP  TALBOT,  A.B.,  M.D. 

Second  Edition  Revised  and  Enlarged  by 
JULIA  E.  JOHNSEN 


THE  H.  W.  WILSON  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 

1920 


\* 


Published   December,    1917. 
Second  Edition  April,    1920. 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE 

This  volume  on  Americanism  and  Americanization  is  offered 
as  a  means  for  further  clarifying  our  national  thought  in  re- 
gard to  present  vital  problems.  From  the  Elder  Statesmen  and 
writers  of  today  essential  excerpts  are  quoted  briefly.  These 
writings  have  not  been  readily  accessible  to  many,  and  yet  they 
should  be  known  to  all  of  us,  native-born  and  new  citizens  alike, 
in  order  that  we  may  all  become  better  Americans. 

The  chapters  on  Americanism  and  Americanization  are  a 
digest  of  American  philosophy  in  relation  to  those  ideals  and 
principles  which  inform  American  life.  The  chapter  on  Technic 
of  Race-Assimilation  is  a  compendium  of  practice,  giving  the 
details  of  assimilation-methods  in  education,  industry,  politics, 
and  everyday  living.  The  annotated  Bibliography  is  a  helpful 
selected  list  of  books  on  Americanism  and  Americanization. 
The  titles  relating  to  Race-assimilation  include  all  the  avail- 
able periodical  references  since  1900.  The  whole  volume  con- 
stitutes a  reference  book  of  unique  value  to  everyone  who  be- 
lieves in  America  as  a  world  force  for  civilization  and  de- 
mocracy as  opposed  to  exploitation  and  autocracy. 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE  TO  THE 
SECOND  EDITION 

With  this  new  edition  of  Americanization  the  bibliography  on 
the  subject  is  brought  down  to  date.  The  many  articles  that  have 
appeared  since  the  last  issue,  amply  attest  the  live  and  earnest 
interest  that  continues  to  be  taken  in  the  subject,  an  interest 
much  augmented  by  the  effect  on  the  country  of  the  late  war  and 
the  present  problems  of  industrial  strife  and  unrest,  inextricably 
intertwined  in  many  ways  with  the  problem  of  the  unassimilated 
and  the  newcomer  to  our  shores.  The  large  number  of  new 
references  have  been  included  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  wish 


414565 


vi  EXPLANATORY  NOTE 

to  supplement  their  reading  on  special  phases  or  to  study  the 
subject  thoroughly. 

In  the  53  pages  of  reprints  added,  effort  has  been  made  to 
include  such  material  as  was  thought  to  be  most  representative 
of  recent  publications  in  value  and  in  interest  to  the  student  and 
reader.  Special  endeavor  has  been  made  to  emphasize  the  more 
concrete  aspect  of  Americanization,  indicating  among  a  multitude 
of  excellent  movements,  a  few  of  the  more  noteworthy  efforts, 
methods,  and  ideals,  directed  to  a  wise  solution  of  this  great 
American  problem.  JULIA  E.  JOHNSEN. 

November  20,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I.    PRINCIPLES    OF    AMERICANISM 

INTRODUCTION  :  Americanism   i 

Taylor,  Bayard.     America    Poem  4 

Compact  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 5 

O'Reilly,  John  Boyle.     The  Pilgrim  Fathers   Poem  6 

Adams,  Samuel.     Natural  Rights  of  Mankind  8 

Jefferson,  Thomas.     Declaration  of  Independence:  Preamble  8 
Jefferson,  Thomas.     Principles  of  American  Government..  9 
Lincoln,  Abraham.    Meaning  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence    10 

Massachusetts  Declaration  of  Rights  n 

Sumner,  Charles.     Equality  Before  the  Law  as  the  Basis  of 

Human  Rights   19 

Sumner,  Charles.    Limits  to  Popular  Sovereignty  20 

Brown,  John.     His  Last  Protest  Against  Slavery 22 

Lincoln,  Abraham.     Address  at  Gettysburg  23 

McCarthy,  Denis  A.     The  Land  Where  Hate  Should  Die 

Poem  24 

^  Schurz,  Carl.    An  Immigrant's  Impression  of  America ....  25 

Bremer,  Frederika.     Woman  in  America  26 

*>  Wilson,  Woodrow.    Address  to  the  Citizenship  Convention, 

July  13,  1916  28 

Van  Dyke,  Henry.     Peace  Hymn  of  the  Republic Poem  32 

Hill,  David  Jayne.     Americanism :  What  It  Is  33 

Roosevelt,  Theodore.     Fear  God  and  Take  Your  Own  Part  38 

VRoosevelt,  Theodore.     A  Sword  for  Defense  39 

J  Roosevelt,   Theodore.    Americanism    42 

Howe,  Frederic  C.     Democracy  of  Tomorrow  .43; 

Whitman,    Charles    Seymour.     Opportunity   and    Obligation 

in  America    46 

Bourne,  Randolph  S.    Trans-national  America  51 

Abbott,   Grace.     Democracy  of   Internationalism    52 

Outlook.     Editorial.    The  Old  Stock  and  the  New 54 

Talbot,  Winthrop.     Tne  FaiUi  That  Is  in  Us 56 


viii  CONTENTS 

Wise,  Stephen  S.     Brotherhood  in  America  62 

Torbert,  John  B.     The  Meaning  of  Our  Flag 63 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward.    The  American  Flag 68 

PART  II.    ESSENTIALS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

INTRODUCTION  :      Americanization   (fy 

Dawson,  William  James.     America  Poem     76 

— •  Wilson,  Woodrow.     The  Meaning  of  Citizenship (%& 

Gordon,  George  A.     The  Foreign-born  American  Citizen..     Si 
Grant,  Percy  Stickney.     American  Ideals  and  Race  Mixture  (Jp 

^  Zangwill,  Israel.     The  Melting  Pot (Q2; 

Guiterman,  Arthur.     Henry  Hudson's  Log Poem    93 

"*"  Steiner,  Edward  A.     Essentials  for  Americanization 04 

Weyl,   Walter  E.     New   Americans    09 

Fuller,  Henry  B.     The  Alien  Poem  103 

-  Jenks,    Jeremiah   W.    and   Lauck,    William   J.    Assimilation 

and  Progress    107 

*  Commons,  John  R.     Amalgamation  and  Assimilation jo8 

Addams,    Jane.     The    Industrial    Problem— The    Immigrant  112 

Kephart,   Horace.     Who   are   the   Mountaineers 113 

DuBois,  W.  E.  Burghardt.     The  Negro  in  the  United  States  119 

Washington,  Booker  T.     Americanizing  the  Rural  Negro . .  127 

Moton,  Robert  R.     Signs  of  Growing  Cooperation 131 

—  Shaw,  Albert.     Assimilating  the   Indian    139 

McKenzie,  Fayette  Avery.     America  and  the  Indian  142 

Balch,  Emily  Greene.     Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens  145 

Burgess,  Thomas.     America's  Duty  to  the  Greeks   150 

Taft,   William  H.     American  Education  in  the  Philippines  153 

Gulick,    Sidney  L.     Are  Japanese   Assimilable? 157 

Whitman,  Walt.    Long,  Too  Long,  O  Land 163 

t        Whitman,  Walt.     Flag  of  Stars!  Thick-sprinkled  Bunting..   163 
PART   III.    TECHNIC   OF   RACE-ASSIMILATION 
' 

Creel,  George.     The  Hopes  of  the  Hyphenated 168 

*"  Huebner,   Grover   G.     The  Americanization   of   the   Immi- 
grant    174. 

McClure,  Archibald.     Some  American  Efforts  at  Immigrant 
Leadership     185 


CONTENTS  ix 

SCHOOLS 

Dewey,  John.     Democracy  and  Education  202 

Buchanan,  John  T.     Compulsory  Education 204 

Claxton,   Philander   P.     Educating   a   Nation 206 

Wheaton,  Henry  H.     Education  of  Immigrants 207 

Talbot,  Winthrop.     The  Workers'  Class  217 

Rector,  Lizzie  C.    A  Workers'  Class  of  Illiterate  Girls 221 

Abbott,  Grace.     The  Education  of  the  Immigrant ($223, 

Moore,   Sarah  Wool.     Schools  in   Camps 228 

Becht,  George.     Public  School  Education  for  United  States 

Citizenship    232 

Hughan,  Jessie  W.    The   Regents'   Examination    Poem  234 

LIBRARIES 

Dana,  John  Cotton.     Books  for  Foreigners 235 

Countryman,   Gratia  A.     Buying  Books   for   Aliens 235 

Campbell,  J.  Maud.     An  Educational  Opportunity  and  the 

Library    240 

Roberts,  Peter.     The  Library  and  the  Foreign- Speaking  Man  243 
New  York  Libraries.     Editorial  The  Library's  Part  in  Mak- 
ing Americans    249 

THE  HOME 

Breckinridge,   Sophronisba   P.     The   Immigrant  Family 251 

Dunbar,  Olivia  Howard.     Teaching  the  Immigrant  Woman  252 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants.     Domestic 

Education  Among  Immigrants   256 

Knowles,  Morris.     Housing  and  Americanization  ,'250. 

NATURALIZATION 

Howe,  Frederic  C.     Americanization  Day   26i/ 

Wilson,  Henry  B.     The  Meaning  of  Citizenship   262 

Campbell,  Richard  K.     The  Naturalization  Reception,  Phila- 
delphia, May  loth  1915  266 

Crist,  Raymond  F.     Naturalizating  the  Alien  268 

Buffington,  Joseph.     American  Citizenship   271 

McCarthy,  Denis  A.    The  Song  of  the  Foreign  Born 280 

LIVING  CONDITIONS 

Mayper,  Joseph.     Americanizing  Barren  Island   281 

INDUSTRY 

Clark,  Marian  K.     The  English  for  Safety  Campaign 291 

Fahey,  John  H.     American  Industry  and  Immigrant  Labor  294 


x  CONTENTS 

Boswell,   Helen   Varick.    Promoting   Americanization 297 

*•*  Kellor,  Frances  A.  Americanization :  A  Conservation  Policy 

for  Industry   302 

LABOR  UNIONS 
*"  Commons,  John  R.    Americanization  by  Labor  Unions 305 

Markham,  Edwin.    The  Right  to  Labor  in  Joy Poem  308 

POLITICS 

->  Ross,  Edward  Alsworth.    Naturalized  Immigrants  and  Po- 
litical Leaders  (30^ 

RECREATION 

Borosini,   Victor  von.     Our   Recreation   Facilities   and  the 
Immigrant    315 

SUPPLEMENTARY  MATERIAL  FOR  SECOND  EDITION 
Cooper,  Charles  C.     Necessity  for  Changes  in  Americaniza- 
tion Methods  321 — 

Immigrant  Contribution  Survey  324 

^  Hill,   Howard  C.     Americanization  Movement 

American  Journal  of   Sociology  325^ 

Rumsey  Frances.     Racial  Relations  in  America Century  336 

Kellor,   Frances  A.     International  Relationship 

North  American  Review  339 

American  Library  Association:     Enlarged  Program 343 

'   Dixon,  Royal.     Americanizing  Our  Foreign-Born Forum  345 

"""What  Every  Americanization  Worker  Should  Know (_3J| 

An  Immigrant's  Program  of  Americanization. ...... .Survey  352 

Senger,    Harry   L.     The  American   House Survey  353 

Paull,  Charles  H.  Aims  and  Standards  in  Industrial  Ameri- 
canization   Industrial    Management  356 

x   Americanization,  What  Is  It,  What  to  Do 366 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sometimes  workers  in  the  same  field  have  had  neither  time 
nor  opportunity  to  become  sufficiently  acquainted  with  each  other, 
and  sometimes  we  are  narrowly  absorbed  in  what  we  vision  as 
fields  particularly  our  own  and  are  lacking  in  awareness  of  the 
accomplishments  of  others  along  lines  which  are  parallel  with  or 
closely  related  to  our  own,  so  perhaps  this  Bibliography  may 
serve  as  a  welcome  introduction  to  kindred  spirits. 

It  has  seemed  best  to  limit  the  bibliographical  matter  some- 
what narrowly.  There  are  few  topics  in  our  social  field  which  do 
not  bear  in  some  respect  or  degree,  and  oftentimes  materially, 
upon  Americanism  and  the  process  of  Americanization.  An  ef- 
fort has  been  made  to  list  writings  which  outline  succinctly  the 

(a)  philosophy  of  nationality 

(b)  meaning  of  Americanism  and  its  spirit  of  contribution 

(c)  essential  nature  of  the  American  political  constitution 

(d)  mechanism  of  Americanization  at  home  and  abroad 
Effective  Americanism  is  based  upon  ability  to  share  thought, 

therefore  unity  of  language  is  essential  to  effective  Americanism. 
The  bibliography  of  English  to  immigrants  has  been  treated  fully 
by  the  writer  in  a  "Bibliography  of  textbooks  for  teaching  the 
English  language;  dictionaries  into  English;  and  aids  to  libra- 
rians" issued  as  a  Government  bulletin  by  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education. 

A  comprehensive  bibliography  of  Americanization  should  in- 
clude the  following  topics: 

Illiteracy 

Education:  compulsory;  workers'  classes;  evening  schools; 
in  the  home ;  by  libraries ;  by  social  organizations ;  by 
newspapers  and  the  foreign  press. 

Immigrant  aid 

Government  aid  to  immigrants  and  farmers 

Problems  of  living:  housing;  recreation;  sanitation;  markets 

Naturalization  and  nationality 

Naturalization    and   immigration 


xii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Handbooks  of  naturalization 

Citizenship 

Citizenship  in  domestic  and  international   law 

Relations  of  the  churches  to  city  and  industrial  problems 

Municipal  activities 

Bibliographies  of  immigration 

Bibliographies  of  cooperation 

Immigrants  in  the  United  States  by  races 

Books  about  immigrants  and  their  home  countries 

Fine  arts  and  the  immigrant 

Industry  and  the  immigrant. 

Such  a  bibliography  has  also  been  prepared  by  the  writer, 
but  must  be  published  in  another  volume. 

For  those  who  are  interested  especially  in  work  conditions, 
work  relations,  and  industrial  education,  reference  may  be  made 
to  the  writer's  "Select  bibliography  on  the  helpful  relations  of 
employers  and  employed."  (Cleveland,  1912) 

This  bibliography  is  divided  into  its  several  topics  in  such 
a  way  as  to  be  of  use  in  indicating  clearly  the  complexity,  ex- 
tent, and  importance  of  Americanism,  Americanization,  and 
Race-assimilation  in  America. 

WINTHROP  TALBOT. 


SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON 
AMERICANIZATION 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Americanization.  Bibliography.  24p.  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  Library 
School.  1919. 

Americanization :  a  selected  list  of  books  in  the  public  library  of 
the  city  of  Boston.  34p.  Public  Library.  Boston,  Mass. 
May,  1919. 

Books  for  and  concerning  foreign-born  people.  Bibliography. 
Maine  Library  Bulletin.  8:75-9.  Ja.  '19. 

Dennison,  Margaret,  comp.  Education  of  foreigners  in  America : 
a  selective  list  of  articles  on  the  education  of  foreigners 
in  America  in  the  California  state  library.  3ip.  Type- 
written. $1.55.  Public  Affairs  Information  Service.  New 
York.  1917. 

List  of  references  on  American  immigration  including  Amer- 
icanization, etc.  27p.  Mimeograph.  United  States.  Library 
of  Congress.  1918. 

Schrage,  J.  T.,  comp.  Immigrant  and  the  English  language:  a 
contribution  to  a  bibliography.  33p.  Typewritten.  $1.65. 
University  of  Wisconsin  Library  School.  June,  1918.  Public 
Affairs  Information  Service.  New  York. 

Talbot,  Winthrop.  Teaching  English  to  aliens:  a  bibliography 
of  textbooks,  dictionaries  and  glossaries  and  aids  to  librarians. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education.  Bulletin  1917,  no.  39. 
76p.  1918. 


AMERICANISM 

BOOKS   FOR   REFERENCE 

*Adams,   Samuel.     Writings.     Collected   and   edited  by  H.   A. 

Gushing.    New  York.    Putnam.  1904.  4v.  ea.  $5. 
Andrews,   Matthew  Page.     American's  creed  and  its  meaning. 

88p.    *75c.    School  edition  *5oc.    Doubleday.    1919. 


xiv  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Beard,  Charles  Austin.     Economic  interpretation  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.    New  York.    Macmillan.  1914. 
The  relation  of  the  Constitution  to  property  and  personality  interests 

as    affecting    government    by    representation    and    as    related    to  essential 

democracy. 

— .     Economic  origins  of  Jeffersonian  democracy.     New  York. 

Macmillan. 
*Beecher,   Henry  Ward.      Freedom    and  war;     discourses    on 

topics  suggested  by  the  times.     Boston.    Ticknor  and  Fields. 

1863. 
Benson,  Allan  L.    Our  dishonest  Constitution.    New  York.  B.  W. 

Huebsch.    1914. 

An  exposition    of   the    Socialist   program   in   the   United   States. 
Boas,  Franz.     Changes  in  bodily  form  of  descendants  of  immi- 
grants; reprinted  from  the  reports  of  the  United  States  im- 
migration commission.     O  586p.     New  York,    Oxford  Uni- 
;  versity  Press.     1913.    $1.75. 

Published  separately  also  by  the   Government  printing  office,   1911. 
*Bremer,    Frederika.     Homes   of   the    new   world.      Trans,     by 

Mary  Howitt.    New  York.    Harper.    1853.   2v. 
Bryce,  James.    The  American  commonwealth.   New  York.   Mac- 
millan.    1910. 

A  classic  authority. 
Butler,  Nicholas  Murray.     A  world  in  ferment;  interpretations 

of  the  war  for  a  new  world.     New  York.     Scribner.     1917. 

$1.25. 

Chapters  on  "The  Building  of  the  Nation,"  and  "Patriotism"  are 
especially  referred  to. 

Coleman,  George  William.  Democracy  in  the  making;  Ford 
Hall  and  the  open  forum  movement ;  a  symposium.  Boston. 
Little,  Brown  and  co.,  1915.  $1.50. 

Cooper,  Clayton  Sedgwick.  American  ideals.  New  York. 
Doubleday.  1915. 

Comprehensive  and  practical  analysis  of  what  Americanism  stands  for 
in  industry,  education,  religion,  and  world  politics.  A  chapter,  ''Attitude 
toward  the  immigrant,"  pp.  229-52,  gives  an  excellent  survey  of  the 
social  forces  of  Americanization  now  in  active  operation. 

Croly,  Herbert.  The  promise  of  American  life.  New  York. 
Macmillan.  1909.  p.  468.  $2. 

*Dana,  John  Cotton.  Libraries;  addresses  and  essays.  New 
York.  The  H.  W.  Wilson  co.  1916. 

Dexter,  Edwin  Grant.  Weather  influences.  New  York.  Mac- 
millan. 1904. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xv 

Foerster,  Norman,  and  Pierson,  William  Whatley,  Jr.,  eds. 
American  Ideals.  326?.  *$i.2S.  Houghton  Mifflin  Company. 

1917. 

Collection  of  essays,  addresses  and  state  papers. 

Fulton,  Maurice  Garland.  National  ideals  and  problems.  415?. 
Macmillan  Company,  New  York.  1918. 

Essays,  addresses  and  state  papers  on  America  and  its  ideals. 
Giddings,   Franklin  Henry.     Americanism  in  war  and  in  peace. 

Publications  of  the  Clark  University  Library,    v.  5,  no.  5.  i6p. 

pa.    Clark  University  Press,  Worcester,  Mass.     May,  1917. 
Hale,  Edward  Everett.     We,   the  People.     New  York.     Dodd, 

1903.      $1.20. 
*Hart,  Albert  Bushnell,   ed.     American  patriots   and  statesmen 

from  Washington  to  Lincoln.     The   Collier   Classics.     New 

York.     Collier.    1916. 

Admirable  handbooks  of  Americanism.  Vol.  i,  Patriotism  of  the 
colonies,  1492-1774.  Vol.  2,  Patriotism  of  the  revolution  and  constitu- 
tion, 1775-1789.  Vol.  3,  Patriotism  of  the  early  Union,  1789-1820.  Vol. 
4,  Patriotism  of  the  East  and  West,  1820-1845.  Vol.  5,  Patriotism  of  the 
North  and  South,  1845-1861. 

— .  National  ideals  historically  traced,  1607-1907.  (American 
nation,  v  26).  New  York.  Harper.  1907.  $2. 

Haworth,  Paul  Leland.  America  in  ferment.  Indianapolis. 
Bobbs-Merrill.  1914. 

Of  especial  interest  are  the  chapters:  The  trend;  The  blood  of  the 
nation;  The  color  line;  Our  changing  institutions;  The  road  upward. 

*Hill,  David  Jayne.  Americanism :  What  it  is.  New  York. 
Appleton.  1916. 

Sets  forth  what  is  most  original  and  distinctive  in  American  political 
conceptions  and  most  characteristic  of  the  American  spirit. 

Hill,  Mabel.  Liberty  documents :  With  contemporary  exposition 
and  critical  comments  drawn  from  various  writers.  New 
York.  Longmans.  1907. 

Excellent   source   book. 

*Howard,  Daniel.  American  history,  government,  and  institu- 
tions ;  a  manual  of  citizenship  for  young  Americans  and  new 
Americans.  Boston.  Palmer  co.  1915.  $i. 

Howe,  Frederic  Clemson.  Privilege  and  democracy  in  America. 
New  York.  Scribner.  1910. 

A  study  of  land,  monopoly,  privilege,  wealth,  and  poverty,  and 
industrial  serfdom  in  America  with  reference  to  the  new  Americanism.  A 
constructive  book,  one  of  the  few  which  contribute  notably  to  the  compre- 
hension of  problems  which  underlie  democracy  and  Americanization. 

Huntington,  E.  Civilization  and  climate.  New  Haven.  Yale 
University  Press.  1915. 


xvi  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

— .     The  climatic  factor  as  illustrated  in  Arid  America.    Wash- 
ington.   Carnegie  Institute.     1914.     573  p. 

Jenks,  Jeremiah  W.  The  character  and  influence  of  recent  im- 
migration. In  Questions  of  public  policy:  Addresses  deliv- 
ered in  the  Page  lecture  series,  1913,  before  the  senior  class  of 
the  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  Yale  University,  New  Haven. 
Yale  University  Press.  1913. 
The  question  of  assimilation  is  discussed  on  p.  33-7. 

Johnson,   Allen.     Readings   in  American  constitutional  history. 
Boston.    Houghton.     1913. 
Important  source  book  of  documents   relating  to  Americanism. 

Kales,  Albert  M.     Unpopular  government  in  the  United  States. 
Chicago.     University  of  Chicago  Press.     1914. 
Exposition   of   government   of   the   few,   by   the   few,   and   for  the   few, 

with  a  review  of  modern  tendencies  in  the  United  States  toward  a  larger 

democracy. 

Kelsey,  Carl.  The  physical  basis  of  society.  New  York.  Apple- 
ton.  1916. 

Important  consideration  of  the  physical  factors  which  affect  and 
effect  racial  changes,  especially  on  the  American  continent.  Excellent 
suggestions  for  reading  at  the  close  of  each  chapter.  This  is  one  of  the 
few  books  which  deal  at  all  with  the  physical  basis  of  Americanization. 
Cf.  Royce's  Physical  basis  of  Americanization;  Royce's  Race  questions; 
chapter  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Lane,  Franklin  Knight.  American  spirit;*  addresses  in  war- 
time. 13 ip.  *75c.  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  New  York.  1918. 

Low,  A.  Maurice.  The  American  People :  A  study  in  national 
psychology.  Boston.  Houghton.  1909.  $2.25. 

McCall,  Samuel  Walker.  The  liberty  of  citizenship.    New  Haven. 
Yale  University  Press.     1915. 
Chapters   on   the   Racial   sources   of  liberty,   p.    66-99,   and   The   liberty 

of   the   individual,    p.    100-128,   are   of   especial   interest. 

Mecklin,  John  Moffatt.  Democracy  and  race  friction:  A  study 
in  social  ethics.  New  York.  Macmillan.  1914. 

A  book  to  be  read  in  connection  with  Royce's  Race  Questions  and 
Zangwill's  Principle  of  Nationalities.  Deals  mainly  with  assimilation  of 
the  Negro. 

Monroe,  Paul,  and  Miller,  Irving  Edgar.      American  spirit;    a 
basis  for  world  democracy.     336p.  $i.     World  Book  Com- 
pany.    1918. 
A  collection  of  writings  in  poetry  and  prose. 

Neumann  Henry.  Teaching  American  ideals  through  literature. 
2ip.  United  States.  Bureau  of  Education.  Bulletin.  1918. 
32:1-21. 

Suggests  books  which  give  appreciation  of  America  and  the  makers 
of  our  national  life. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xvii 

*Nicolay,    John    George,    and   Hay,    John.     Abraham    Lincoln; 

a  history.     New  York.     Century.     lov.    $20. 
*Redpath,  James.     The   public  life  of    Captain    John    Brown. 

Boston.    Thayer.     1860. 
Redfield,  William  Cox.     The  new  industrial  day.     New  York. 

Century.     1912. 

Shows  how  the  appreciation  of  human  values  in  modern  American 
industry  affects  the  extension  of  true  Americanism. 

Reed,  T.  H.    Government  for  the  people.    B.  W.  Huebsch. 

*  Roche,  James  Jeffrey.  Life  of  John  Boyle  O'Reilly;  with  his 
complete  poems  and  speeches ;  edited  by  M.  O'Reilly.  Phila- 
delphia. McVey.  1909.  $2. 

*Roosevelt,  Theodore.  Fear  God  and  take  your  own  part.  New 
York.  Doran.  1916.  $1.50. 

Royce,  Josiah.     The  philosophy  of  loyalty.     New  York.     Mac- 
millan.     1908. 
A  testament  of  Americanism. 

— .  Race  questions,  provincialism,  and  other  American  problems. 
New  York.  Macmillan.  1908. 

Broad  discussion  of  American  idealism  in  its  popular  and  practical 
aspects.  Indispensable  to-  the  student  of  Americanism. 

*Schurz,   Carl.     Speeches,  correspondence,  and  political  papers. 

Ed.  by  Frederic  Bancroft.  New  York.  Putnam.  1913.  $12. 
Semple,  Ellen  Churchill.  American  history  and  its  geographic 

conditions.     Boston.     Houghton.     1903. 
— .    Influences  of  geographical  environment;    on  the  basis    of 

Ratzel's   system   of   authropogeography.     New  York.     Holt 

1911.    683  p.  maps. 
Shaw,    Albert.     Political   problems    of   American    development. 

New  York.     Columbia  University  Press.     1907. 

Americanism  is  treated  comprehensively  in  the  second  and  third 
chapters,  pp.  30-86,  under  Problems  of  population  and  citizenship,  and 
Immigration  and  race  questions.  Race,  language,  and  status  are  dis- 
cussed with  especial  reference  to  European  and  Asiatic  immigration  »nd 
the  assimilation  of  the  Negro. 

Smith,  J.  Allen.  The  spirit  of  American  government :  A  study 
of  the  Constitution,  its  origin,  influence,  and  relation  to 
democracy.  New  York.  Macmillan.  1907. 

Shows  the  obstacles  to  majority  rule  in  the  Constitution  and  it§ 
inherent  opposition  to  democracy. 

*Sumner,  Charles.    Works.   Boston.     Lothrop.    1909.    I5v.  ea.  $3. 
Tagore,   Rabindranath.     Nationalism.     New  York.     Macmillan. 
1917.    $1.25. 

Suggestive  as  giving  the  viewpoint  of  an  Oriental  thinker.  The  first 
chapter  treats  of  Nationalism  in  the  West.  The  writer  curiously  neg- 
lects the  element  of  literacy  as  a  factor  in  world-democracy. 


xviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Thayer,    William    Roscoe.      Peace.      In    Democracy,     discipline, 

peace.    124?.    *$i.    Houghton  Mifflin  Company.     1919. 
*Thorpe,     Francis    Newton.      Federal   and    State    constitutions, 
colonial   charters    and   other   organic   laws   of    States,    terri- 
tories, and  colonies.     7v.  Washington.     Supt.  of  documents. 
1909.     $5.25- 

Weeks,  Arland  D.  Psychology  of  citizenship:  Study  of  the 
psychology  of  our  relations  to  civic  affairs.  Chicago. 
McClurg.  1917. 

Deals  with   mental   traits   affecting  the   quality  of   citizenship. 
Wells,  Herbert  George.     Social  forces  in  England  and  America. 
New  York.    Harpers.     1914. 

A  chapter  upon  The  American  population,  pp.  321-382,  deals  espec- 
ially with  the  forces  of  Americanization. 

Wilson,  Woodrow.    Division  and  reunion,  1829-1909.  In   Epochs 
of  American  History,  v.  3.    New  York.    Longmans. 
Exposition    of    the    development    of    democracy    in    America    from    a 

government    organized    upon    the    initiative    and    primarily    in    the    interest 

of   the   mercantile   and   wealthy   classes. 

— .  The  new  freedom :  a  call  for  the  emancipation  of  the  gener- 
ous energies  of  a  people.  New  York.  Doubleday.  1913. 

Vigorous  exposition  of  the  economic  and  political  changes  which  have 
resulted  from  the  evolution  of  modern  industrial  society  and  the  busi- 
ness corporation;  the  new  needs  of  America. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry.     The  spirit  of  America.     New  York.     Mac- 

millan.     1910.    p.  276.    $1.50. 
Young,  J.  T.     New  American  government  and  its  work.     New 

York.    Macmillan.    $2.25. 
Zangwill,   Israel.      The  principle   of   nationalities.     New   York. 

Macmillan.     1917. 

A  philosophical  consideration  of  nationality  as  a  state  of  mind  cor- 
responding to  a  political  fact  and  determined  by  contiguous  cooperation, 
visioning  a  world  series  of  united  republics.  Stimulating  and  suggestive 
essay.  Should  be  read  in  connection  with  Royce's  "Race  questions"  and 
"Loyalty." 

MAGAZINE    ARTICLES 

Alexander,  Hartley  B.    Americanism.    New  Republic.    13 :27o-2. 

Ja.  5,  '18. 
America;   interpreted  by  living  Americans  in  prose  and  verse,  a 

symposium.    Educational  Foundations.    31 : 100-3.    O.  '19. 
*American's  creed.     Education.    38:794.    Je.  '18. 
Gibbons,  James  Cardinal.     What  is  an  American?     Delineator. 

93 :5.    JL  '18. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xix 

Hart,  Albert  Bushnell.  Cradle  of  liberty.  Mentor.  6:1-11.  Jl. 
i,  '18. 

Henderson,  Archibald.  Democracy  and  American  ideals.  Book- 
man. 47:293-8.  My.  '18. 

Hunt,  Gaillard.  American  idea.  Catholic  World.  109:289-97. 
Je.  '19. 

Lane,  Franklin  Knight.  Flag:  What  I  am.  Ladies'  Home 
Journal.  36:  I.  Jl.  '19. 

— .  I  will  show  you  America.  Jewish  Immigration  Bulletin. 
9:3-4.  F.  '19. 

— .     What  is  an  American?     Delineator.     93.2.     Ag.  '18. 

Marshall,  Thomas  R.  What  is  a  worthy  American?  Inde- 
pendent. 93:314.  F.  23,  '18. 

Ross,  A.  Franklin.  American  ideals :  how  to  teach  them.  Edu- 
cational Review.  56:399-404.  D.  '18. 

Schneider,  Herman.  Arthur  McQuaid,  American.  Outlook. 
116:145-6,  616-18;  118:138-40;  119:420.  My  23,  Ag.  22,  '17, 
Ja.  23,  Jl.  10,  '18. 

Tarkington,  Booth.  About  America ;  a  letter  to  a  young  French 
girl.  St.  Nicholas.  46:209-16.  Ja.  '19. 

Taylor,  Laurette.  Famous  and  much-loved  actress  and  her  ideal 
of  Americanism.  Delineator.  93:11.  N.  '18. 

ESSENTIAL  AMERICANIZATION 

POEMS 

Bates,  Katherine  Lee.  America  the  beautiful;  poem,  with  music. 
St.  Nicholas.  43:72-3.  N.  '15. 

*Bryant,  William  Cullen.     Poems.     New  York.     Crowel1.     1893. 
The  Ages,  xxii-xxv. 
''Oh,  Mother  of  a  mighty  race." 
Our   Country's   call. 

*Dawson,  W.  J.  America  and  other  poems.  New  York.  John 
Lane  Co.  1914. 

America. 
*Fuller,  Henry  B.     Lines  long  and  short.     Boston.     Houghton. 

1917. 

The  alien,  p.    118-23. 

*Guiterman,  Arthur.    The  laughing  muse.    New  York.    Harper. 

IQI5- 

Satirical  verse,   "Henry  Hudson's   Log,   p.   82-4. 


xx  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ludlum,  William  J.  Fabric ;  poem.    Photo-Era.    41 132.    Jl.  '18. 
^McCarthy,  Denis  A.     Heart  songs  and  home  songs.     Boston. 
Little.     1916. 

America  First. 

Banner   of   America. 

America   to  her   children. 

The  land  where  hate  should  die. 

Monroe,  Harriet.    America;  poem.    Poetry.    13:133-5.    D. '18. 
Newark  Anniversary  Poems.    New  York.    Laurence  J.  Gomme, 
1917- 

Winners  in  the  poetry  competition  held  in  connection  with  the  asoth 
anniversary  celebration  of  the  founding  of  the  city  of  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  May  to  October,  1916,  together  with  the  official  Newark  Cele- 
bration Ode  and  other  anniversary  poems,  grave  and  gay.  Introductory 
chapters  and  a  plan  for  a  national  anthology  of  American  poetry,  by  Henry 
Wellington  Wack,  editpr  of  the  Newarker,  prepared  by  the  Committee  of 
One  Hundred,  Franklin  Murphy,  Chairman. 

Taylor,   Bayard.     America.     From  the  National   Ode,  July  4, 

1876. 
*Van  Dyke,   Henry.     The   Grand   Canyon    and    other    poems. 

New  York.     Scribner.     1914. 

Texas;   a  democratic  ode. 

Peace  hymn  of  the  Republic. 

*Zangwill,    Israel.     The   melting  pot;     a   drama.     New   York. 
Macmillan.    1909. 


BOOKS   FOR   REFERENCE 

Abbott,  Grace.  The  Immigrant  and  the  community.  New  York. 
1917. 

Written  by  one  who  has  had  long  and  varied  experience  at  first 
hand  with  the  problem  of  Americanization.  This  book  deals  with  the 
special  problems  of  the  immigrant  girl;  protection  against  exploitation; 
the  immigrant  in  relation  to  the  courts,  public  health,  poverty,  indus- 
trial education,  education,  politics,  and  American  internationalism. 

Addams,  Jane.     Twenty  years  at  Hull-House;    with    autobio- 
graphical notes.     New  York.    Macmillan  Co.     1910. 
Study   of   Americans   in   the    making   and   the    mechanism    of   practical 

Americanization. 

Americanization.  Pamphlets.  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
United  States.  Immigration  committee,  29  W.  39th  St.,  New 
York.  1918. 

Americanization  activities.  United  States.  Bureau  of  Natural- 
ization. Annual  Report,  1918.  p.  24-67. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxi 

Americanization  Bulletins  1-6.     Ohio  Council  of  National  De- 
fense.   Columbus. 

Titles  are  (i)  What  is  Americanization.  (2)  Practical  Americaniza- 
tion program  for  Ohio  cities.  (3)  Americanization  in  industries.  (4) 
Americanization  through  the  public  library.  (5)  English  speech  for  foreign 
tongues;  a  few  hints  for  teachers.  (6)  Teaching  English  to  immigrants; 
some  suggestions  on  methods  and  materials. 

Antin,  Mary.     The  promised  land.    Boston.     Houghton.     1912. 

The  study  of  the  Americanization  of  a  Russian  immigrant  girl,  eelf- 
viewed  and  self-narrated.  A  psychological  analysis  of  an  adjustment 
experienced  by  many. 

—  .    They  who  knock  at  our  gates  ;    a  complete  gospel  of  immi- 
gration.   Boston.    Houghton,  Mifflin  Company.    1914. 
Treats    of   immigration    as    an   American    issue,    but    discusses    also    the 

subject   of  assimilation,      pp.    119-43. 

Ash,  Sholom.    America;  translated  by  James  Fuchs.    American 

Jewish  Chronicle  Series.  I5ip.  $i.    Alpha  Omega  Publishing 

Co.,  1632  Aeolian  Hall,  New  York.    1918. 
Bridges,  Horace  J.     On  becoming  an  American;  some  medita- 

tions of  a  newly  naturalized  immigrant.      i86p.      Marshall 

Jones  Company,  Boston.    1919. 
Burgess,  Thomas.    Greeks  in  America.    Sherman,  French  &  Co. 


Well  informed  study  of  Greek  immigration,  industrial  development, 
institutions,  and  life  in  American  cities,  towns,  and  rural  communities, 
including  accounts  of  famous  American  Greeks.  The  style  is  popular. 
The  book  concludes  with  an  excellent  bibliography  and  guide  to  further 
study  of  Greeks  in  America,  modern  Greek  language,  medieval  and  modern 
Greece  and  Greeks,  and  the  Eastern  Orthodox  Church. 

Cleveland,  Grover.    Good  citizenship.    Philadelphia.    H.  Altemus 

Co.     1908. 
Cole,   Raymond  E.     Immigrant's  Guide  to  the  City  of  Cleve- 

land.    Cleveland.     1915. 

This  book  was  the  work  of  the  city  immigration  officer  and  was  is- 
sued in  nine  languages  —  English,  Italian,  German,  Hungarian,  Polish,  Bo- 
hemian, Slovak,  Croatian,  and  Yiddish.  It  is  an  model  guide.  Other 
cities  would  do  well  to  issue  similar  publications. 

*Commons,  John  Rogers.     Races  and  immigrants  in  America. 

New  York.    The  Macmillan  company;  London,  Macmillan  & 

co.,  ltd.,  1907.    242  p. 

"Amalgamation    and    assimilation."    pp.     198-238. 
Dixon,  Royal.    Americanization.    New  York.    Macmillan.     1916. 

196  p.  soc. 

Review  by  the  vice-president  of  the  League  of  Foreign-born  Citizens 
of  the  work  in  Americanization  being  accomplished  by  various  civic  and 
social  agencies,  and  especially  by  the  National  Americanization  Committee. 

Americanization  and  the  lack  of  a  national  epic  consciousness.  Cur- 
rent Opinion  61:183-4.  S.  '17.  A  review  of  Royal  Dixon's  "Americaniza- 
tion." 

Dole,  Charles  Fletcher.    Coming  people.    Boston.    World  peace 
foundation. 


xxii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Du  Bois,  W.  E.  Burghardt.    The  negro.     New  York.  Holt.   1915. 

A  concise  history  of  the  negro.  The  chapter  upon  the  Negro  in  the 
United  States  is  in  effect  a  chapter  upon  Americanization  of  the  negro, 
and  gives  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  history  of  negro  assimilation 
and  the  forces  which  are  making  this  possible.  Valuable  bibliography; 
Physiography  of  Africa;  Racial  differences,  origin,  and  characteristics  of 
negroes;  early  movemnts  of  the  negro  race;  negro  in  Ethiopia  and 
Egypt;  Abyssinia;  Niger  River  and  Islam;  Guiena  coast;  Congo  valley; 
Great  Lakes  in  Africa;  South  Africa;  negro  civilization;  Slave  trade; 
West  Indies  and  South  America;  United  States;  future  of  the  negro  race. 

Fairchild,  Henry  Pratt.     Immigration;  a  world  movement    and 
its  American  significance.     New  York.     The  Macmillan  com- 
pany.   1913.    xi,  455p.    $1.75. 
Partly  reprinted  from  various  periodicals. 
Bibliography:    pp.    439-449. 
The   problem    of   assimilation    of   the   immigrant   is   treated   fully   in    pp. 

397-4!5,  and  should  be  read  by  the  student  of  Americanization. 

Federal  state  program  for  immigrant  education.  Massachu- 
setts. Board  of  Education.  Department  of  University  Ex- 
tension. Bulletin.  V.  4,  no.  i.  24p.  January,  1919. 

Outlines  plans  of  cooperation  for  the  Board  of  education,  bureau  of 
immigration,  public  library  commission  public  schools,  chambers  of  com- 
merce, women's  clubs,  industries,  trade  unions,  settlement  houses,  sec- 
tarian organizations,  public  libraries,  patriotic  societies,  foreign  clubs  and 
societies,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  K.  of  C.,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  Y.  M.  H.  A.,  School 
authorities,  University  Extension  Divisions. 

Fishberg,  Maurice.  The  Jews:  a  study  of  race  and  environ- 
ment. New  York.  Scribner.  1911. 

Flowers,  Montaville.  The  Japanese  conquest  of  American  opin- 
ion. New  York.  Doran.  1917. 

Comprehensive  presentation  of  the  anti-Japanese  argument.  Analyti- 
cal comparison  of  statements  of-  Gulick,  Kawakami,  and  Millis,  pp.  91-97- 

•'When  our  boys  and  girls  in  high  schools  are  hunting  for  material 
with  which  to  debate  the  Japanese  problem,  they  find  gratis  in  our  li- 
braries some  or  all  of  the  following  books:  Books  by  Sidney  L.  Gulick, 
who  in  himself  represents  the  Japanese,  the  Japan  Societies,  the  Peace 
Societies  and  the  Christian  Church  pro-Japanese  movement;  books  by 
K.  K.  Kawakami,  manager  of  one  of  the  Japanese  Press  Bureaus  in 
America;  books  by  H.  H.  Millis,  made  for  the  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  as  a  basis  for  its  pro-Japanese  campaign;  books  by  the  Japan 
Society  of  New  York  .  .  .  and  the  Bulletin,  edited  by  the  Japanese 
Society."  p.  in. 

Gordon,   George  A.     Appeal  of  the  nations.     Boston.     Pilgrim 

Press.     1917. 

Five  patriotic  addresses  by  the  minister  of  the  Old  South  Church, 
Boston;  American  freedom;  The  foreign-born  American  citizen;  Chris- 
tion  and  citizen;  American  loyalty;  the  Nation  and  humanity. 

Graham,  Stephen.  With  poor  immigrants  to  America.  Harper. 
1914. 

Vivid  and  analytic  contrast  of  Russia  with  the  United  States  by  a 
Russianized  Englishman.  It  sheds  light  on  Americanization  from  a  new 
quarter.  The  chapter  on  "The  choir  dance  of  the  races"  is  picturesque, 
and  original.  The  medieval  tone  of  the  book  is  in  line  with  the  writer  a 
disbelief  in  free  schooling  (vide  his  defence  of  illiteracy  in  Littell's  Liv- 
ing Age,  September,  1911.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxiii 

Grose,  Howard  Benjamin.  Aliens  or  Americans?  With  intro- 
duction by  Josiah  Strong.  New  York.  Young  people's  mis- 
sionary movement.  1906.  337  p. 

Bibliography:  pp.  321-23. 

Gulick,  Sidney  L.  The  American  Japanese  problem.  New  York. 
Scribner.  1914. 

Outlines  America's  Oriental  problem  and  suggests  a  new  American 
oriental  policy.  Americanization  is  the  substance  of  the  book  and  in 
addition  the  question  of  whether  the  Japanese  are  assimilable  is  given 
special  attention.  The  author  is  professor  in  Doshisha  University  and  lec- 
turer in  the  Imperial  University  of  Kyoto,  Japan,  and  is  a  most  reliable 
authority. 

Hasanovitz,  Elizabeth.  One  of  them ;  chapters  from  a  passion- 
ate autobiography.  333p.  *$2.  Houghton  MifBin  Co.,  1918. 

Same  condensed.  Atlantic.  121:1-13,  199-210,  346-55,  516-20.  Ja-Ap. 
'18. 

Haskin,  Frederic  J.  The  immigrant,  an  asset  and  a  liability. 
New  York.  Fleming  H.  Revell  company.  1913.  251  p. 

This  book  is  a  reproduction  of  a  series  of  articles  which  were  pub- 
lished in  a  large  list  of  newspapers  throughout  the  United  States. 

Heroes  of  freedom.  48?.  California  Commission  of  Immigra- 
tion and  Housing,  525  Market  St.,  San  Francisco.  1919. 

An  excellent  pamphlet  for  Americanization  groups.  Contains  read- 
ing list  on  heroes  of  many  nations. 

Husband,  Joseph.    America  at  work.    Boston.    Houghton  Mifflin 

Co.    1916.     $i. 
Jenks,   Jeremiah   W.,    and   Lauck,    W.   Jett.      The   immigration 

problem;    a  study  of  American  immigration  conditions  and 

needs.     New  York.     Funk.    1913. 

Readable  account  of  the  chief  findings  of  the  United  States  Immigra- 
tion Commission,  Chapter  on  assimilation  and  progress,  pp.  248-318. 

Kawakami,  Kiyoshi  Karl.    Asia  at  the  door.    New  York.    Revell. 

1913- 

"The  greatest  problem  of  the  age  and  of  ages  to  come  is  that  resulting 
from  contact  between  the  East  and  West." 

Kelior,  Frances  A.  Straight  America;  a  call  to  national  service. 
New  York.  Macmillan.  June,  1916.  193  p.  soc. 

Brief  text  book   of  Americanism: 

1.  What   is  the   matter   with   America? 

2.  Americanism. 

3.  The   native   American. 

4.  America-made  citizens. 

5.  The    popular   vote. 

6.  National   unity. 

Kephart,  Horace.  Our  Southern  Highlanders.  New  York. 
Outing.  1913. 

Comprehensive  and  sympathetic  account  of  the  segregated  mountain 
white  of  the  South.  A  notable  study  of  native-born  Americans. 


xxiv  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Kuenzli,  Frederick  A.  Right  and  duty  or  Citizen  and  soldier. 
Switzerland  prepared  and  at  peace:  A  model  for  the  United 
States.  New  York.  National  Defense  Institute,  Tribune  Bldg. 
1916.  Also  G.  E.  Stechert  &  Co. 

Lamkin,  Nina  B.  America,  yesterday  and  today.  Pageant.  48p. 
5oc.  T.  S.  Denison  &  Co.,  Chicago.  1917. 

League  of  foreign-born  citizens,  its  aims  and  activities.  I5p. 
303  5th  Ave.,  New  York.  1919. 

Lenz,  Frank  B.  ed.  Immigration — some  new  phases  of  the  prob- 
lem; a  series  of  addresses  delivered  before  the  International 
immigration  congress  at  the  Civic  auditorium,  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  August  9,  10,  n,  1915,  pub.  by  the  American  sociological 
society  and  the  Committee  of  one  hundred,  Federal  council  of 
churches  in  America.  San  Francisco.  1915. 

Lingle,  Clara  Souther.     Course  on  Americanization:  studies  of 
the  people,  and  the  movements  that  are  building  up  the  Amer- 
ican nation.    With  bibliography.    6ip.     Extension  leaflet,  v.  2, 
no.  8.    University  of  North  Carolina,  Chapel  Hill.    1919. 
Suitable  for  a  club  program. 

Loeb,  Max.  Adult  education  and  the  war.  8p.  Marquette 
Building.  Chicago.  1918. 

Gives  statistics. 
MacCarthy,  Jessie  Howell.    Where  garments  and  Americans  are 

made.    New  York.    Writers'  Publishing  Co.     1917. 

Story  of  the  Sicher  system  of  factory  education  for  Americanization 
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McClure,  Archibald.     Leadership  of  the  new  America;    racial 

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Notable  recent  study  of  immigrants  by  races.  The  chapter  on  "Some 
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Millis,  H.  A.    The  Japanese  people  in  the  United  States.    New 

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An  investigation  for  the  commission  on  relations  with  Japan  ap- 
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Roberts,  Peter.  Civics  for  coming  Americans.  i8p.  5oc.  Asso- 
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— .     The  new  immigration;  a  study  of  the  industrial  and  social 
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An  argument   for  denationalized  internationalism. 

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1910.     Philadelphia,  National  municipal  league. 
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alien.     Everybody's.    38 : 55-64.    Mr.  '18. 

Reprinted  National  Americanization  Committee,  29  W.  39th  St.,  New 
York  City. 

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5:  220-3.  My.  '19. 
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American  House  of  Cincinnati.     School  Life,     i:  10.  N.  I,  '18. 
Americanization.     Nation.     108:823-4.  My.  24,  '19. 
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Americanization  as  patriotic  service ;  Denver's  opportunity  school 
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Review  of  article  in  London  Morning  Chronicle  describing  the  effect 
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Americanization  of  immigrants.    Editorial.    Outlook.    111:881-2. 

D.  15,  'IS- 

The  sculpture  of  Beniamino  Bufario,   a  young  Italian  immigrant. 

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Americanizing  a  city :  the  campaign  for  the  Detroit  night  schools, 
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Account  of  methods  adopted  and  work  done  by  the  Detroit  board 
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English  to  foreigners. 

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Ja.  '12. 
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Entertaining  story  of  an  American  lesson   in   order  and  cleanliness. 
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Papers  published  last  as  "The  Story  of  My  Life." 
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'12. 

— .     Making  of  a  citizen.     Atlantic  Monthly.    109:  211-26.    F.  '12. 
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Work  of  the  recreation   commission  of  Detroit. 
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Americanization    work   in    states    where    women   vote. 

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Journal  of  Home  Economics.     6 : 447-9-     D-  '*4- 
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Afterwards  printed  as  part  of  Professor  Balch's  book,  "Our  Slavic 
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Barnes,  Earl.  Language  as  a  factor  in  Americanization.  Public. 
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*Barnes,  Mary  C.     Duty  of  the  American  churches  to  immigrant 
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Paper   by   the    founder   of   the   Fireside    League,    a  movement   to   teach 

immigrants   to   read  and   speak   English   by   use   of  simple   textbooks  baaed 

on   the   Bible. 

— .     New   day   in   Christian   Americanization.      Missionary   Re- 
view.    42:S7-9-     Ja.  '19- 
Proposes   a   church   league    of   neighbors. 

Barnum,  Gertrude.  My  immigrant  neighbors :  Becky  on  the  un- 
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Beard,  J.  W.  The  immigrant  in  the  woods.  Proceedings  of  the 
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Needs  and  characteristics  of  aliens  in  construction  and  logging  camps 
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Bedrock.  By  an  American  woman.  Atlantic.  123:696-700. 
My.  '19. 

A  personal   realization   of  the  American  spirit. 

Bennet,  William  S.  The  immigrant  voter.  In  Society  for  the 
promotion  of  social  service.  The  immigrant  and  the  com- 
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42-72.     '13- 

Written  by  the  immigration  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  San  Fran- 
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Annals  of  the  American  Academy.    35 :  357-67.    Mr.  '10. 

An  >  account  of  the  parks,  playgrounds,  and  other  opportunities  for 
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*Bourne,  R.  S.  Trans-national  America.  Atlantic.  118:86-97. 
Jl.  '16. 

A  study  of  socialized  nationalities,  dual  citizenship,  and  tram- 
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Breckinridge,  S.  P.     Education  for  the  Americanization  of   the 

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My.  '19. 
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Proceedings  of  the  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction. 

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Protest  by  the  secretary  of  the  Immigrant  Protective  League  of 
Chicago  against  needless  deportation  and  destruction  of  immigrant 
family  life. 

Caffin,  Charles  H.  Good  citizenship — the  product  of  giving  as 
well  as  receiving.  Immigrants  in  America  Review.  1 :  46-50. 
Ja.  '16. 

Conservation  of  intellectual,  esthetic,  and  spiritual  values  in  immi- 
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*Cance,  Alexander  E.  Immigrant  rural  communities.  Annals 
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Study  of  distribution,  race  characteristics,  and  Americanization  of 
immigrants  in  rural  life  by  the  specialist  of  the  United  States  Commission 
of  Immigration. 

— .     Immigrant  rural  communities.  Survey.  25:587-95.    Ja.  7,  'n. 
This    article    differs    from    the    one    with    identical    title    in    the    Annals 
of    the    American    Academy.      It    deals    with    Americanization    of    Italian, 
Hebrew,  and   Polish  farm  folk  in  the  Atlantic  and   Gulf   States. 

Cannon,  Joseph  G.  Native  American.  Outlook.  112:787-8.  Ap. 
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Amusing  account  of  the  origin  of  the  "native  American,"  from  speech 
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1916. 

Carter,  S.  R.  Americanization.  City  and  State.  1:10-11.  F. 
'19- 

Outlines  a  brief   program   of  work  for  the  government. 
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Review    of    article    by    Rev.    Dr.    Francis    C.    Kelley,    president    of    the 
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Experiences  of  an  Italian  student  of  medicine  working  in  a  railway 
construction  gang. 

Civic  theater  of  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island.  Playground.  11 :  255- 
7-  Ag.  '17- 

Claxton,  P.  P.  Churches  and  Americanization.  Religious  Ed- 
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Coke,  F.  W.  Public  forum  in  Americanization.  Ohio  Citizen. 
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Commons,  John  R.  New  citizens  for  the  Republic.  World's 
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* — .  Racial  composition  of  the  American  people.  Amalgamation 
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Conn,  H.  W.     Social  heredity.    Independent.    Ja.  21,  1904. 

Conserving  the  immigrant  girl.  Editorial.  Bookmaker.  43 :  66. 
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*Cooper,  Charles  C.     Necessity  for  change  in  Americanization 
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Same.     National  conference   of   Social   Work.     Proceedings.      1918:435- 

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"Creel,  G.     Hopes  of  the  hyphenated,    il.    Century.     91 : 350-63. 

Ja.  '16.    Discussion  Century.    91 : 637.     F.  '16. 

Interesting  and  careful  study  of  many  aspects  of  Americanization  of 
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— .  Our  aliens — were  they  loyal  or  disloyal?  Everybody's. 
40:36-8.  Mr.  '19. 

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Curtis,  Frances  Kellogg.  Some  experiences  of  a  home  teacher. 
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"Daniels,  John.  Americanizing  eighty  thousand  Poles.  Survey. 
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Work   of   the    International    Institutes. 

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How  democracy  inevitably  defeats  an  autocratic  industrial  tyttem 
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64-5.  S.  11,  '18. 


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Erickson,  N.  A.    Back  to  the  land.    Conference  of  Charities  and 

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Dangers  from  heterogeneous  groups  of  population  in  America. 
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10:1-18.     Jl.  '18. 

Urges  more  strict  naturalization  procedure  to  the  end  of  less  artificial 
and  better   spiritual   assimilation. 

Fall  of  the  American  Saxon.  Literary  Digest.  46:767-8.  Ap.  5, 
'13- 

Decadence  of  American  stock.  Review  of  article  in  American  Medicine. 

Finest  American  I  know.    American  Magazine.    78:62-3.    Jl.  '14. 

Sketches    of    successful    immigrants. 

Fitch,  John  A.  Lackawanna — swamp,  mill,  and  town.  Survey. 
27:929-45.  O.  7,  'ii. 

Analytic    account    of    living    conditions    of    the    workers    in    a    newly 
established    steel    town. 

Fleischman,  Henry.  Administrator  of  the  Educational  Alliance, 
N.Y.  City:  The  Educational  Alliance.  Immigrants  in  America 
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/    Foreign-born  American's  views  on  Americanization.    American- 
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Foreign-born  of  the  United  States,  il.  National  Geographic 
Magazine.  26 :  265-71.  S.  '14. 

Froehlke,  P.  Confession  of  a  so-called  German  pastor  and  a 
few  reflections.  Outlook.  118: 13-14.  Ja.  2,  '18. 

Fulcher,  Gwyneth  M.  Americanization  of  the  immigrant  in 
Chicago.  Social  Service  Review.  8: 17,  8-10,  9,  9.  O.-D.  '18, 
Ja.,  '19. 

Further  plans  for  study  of  Americanization.     Survey.     40:431. 

Jl.  13,  '18. 

Carnegie   corporation   plans. 
Gaus  John  Merriman.   New  frontiers  of  assimilation.   Public. 

21:1501-3.    D.  14,  '18. 
Gedalecia,  Joseph.  Americanizing  the  shut-ins.  Survey.    42: 

317-18.  My.  24,  '19. 

Need  of  Americanization  education  for  inmates  of  hospitals,  sanitoria, 
homes  etc.,  Bellevue  hospital   (N.Y.) 

German  spirit  in  America.    New  Republic.    14:282-4.    Ap.  6,  '18. 
Gillpatrick,  W.     Mexicans  and  Americans.     Outlook.    96:772-6. 

D.  3,  '10. 

Appreciative  analysis  of  Mexican  traits  important  to  friendly  relations 
with  " 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxxiii 

Goddard,  Charles  A.  How  a  bank  helps  Americanize  the  foreign- 
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Goldenweiser,  E.  A.  Immigrants  in  cities.  Survey.  25 :  596-604. 
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Goodwin,  Clarence  Norton.  National  Americanization.  Immi- 
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Suggestions  for  a  national  program  of  Americanization  by  Judge 
Goodwin  of  the  United  States  Superior  Court,  where  thousands  of  alieni 
are  naturalized  each  year. 

Governors  favor  absorbing  aliens;  survey  of  methods  of  Amer- 
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Grabo,  Carl  H.  Americanizing  the  immigrants.  Dial.  66:539- 
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Advocates  both  retention  of  foreign  culture  and  assimilation  into  our 
own. 

*Grant,  P.  S.  American  ideals  and  race  mixture.  North  Amer- 
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Valuable  study  by  the  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension.  New 
York  City. 

Guggenheimer,  Frederick  L.  Americanization  of  the  Jewish  im- 
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Gulick,  Sidney  L.  Comprehensive  immigration  policy  and  pro- 
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Immigration  and  laws  based  on  percentage  of  naturalized  and  assimi- 
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Haddon,  A.  C.  Environment  versus  heredity.  Nature.  85:  11-12. 
N.  3,  '10. 

Halsey,  E.  S.    Our  brothers  the  immigrants.    World  Today.  19 : 
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Immigrant  aid  by  the  Young  Men's   Christian   Association. 

Ham,  Clifford  D.  Americanizing  Nicaragua:  how  Yankee  ma- 
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Hansen,  Annie  L.  Two  years  as  a  domestic  educator  in  Buffalo, 
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Harmon,  Dudley.  Americans  for  America.  Ladies'  Home  Jour- 
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Hart,  J.  K.    Cooperation  between  federal  and  state  officials,  civic, 
and  voluntary  organizations  in  the  reception  of  immigrants. 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction.    39-42.    '13. 

Hedger,  Caroline.  Difficulties  of  Americanization.  Immigrants 
in  America  Review.  2:26-31.  Jl.  '16. 


xxxiv  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

— .    Public   health   nursing.     Immigrants   in   America    Review. 
2 :  39-42.    Jl.  '16. 

Health  education  in  Illinois  mining  camps. 

Hemphill,    Alexander    J.      Banker's    part    in  Americanization. 
Guaranty  News.    8:1-6.     Mr.  '19. 

Encouragement   of  investments   as   leading  to  stability. 
Hendrick,  B.  J.    Skulls  of  our  immigrants.    McClure's  Magazine. 
35 :  36-50.    My.  '10. 

Popular  presentation  of  the  results  of  the  inyestigation  by  Profewor 
Franz  Boas.  Well  illustrated. 

Herring,  Herbert  C.    Uniting  to  help  the  immigrants.    Mission- 
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The  work   of   the   Home   Mission   Councils. 

*Hill,  Howard  C.    Americanization  movement.    American  Jour- 
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Hodges,  L.     Immigration  life  in  the  ore  regions  of  northern 
Minnesota.    Survey.    28:703-9.    S.  7,  '12. 

Graphic  account   of  living  conditions   among  immigrant   minerr 
Hot-shot  from  a  German-born  American.    Literary  Digest.    58: 
23-4.    Ag.  24,  '18. 

A  German-American's  argument  in  favor  of  suppressing  the  German 
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Honorable  hyphen,   The.      Editorial.      Independent.     86 : 429-30. 
Je.  12,  '16. 

Influence  and  attitude  of  the  foreign  language  press  faTorable  to 
Americanization. 

Hostages  to  peace.    Editorial.    New  Republic.    3 :  28-30.    My.  15, 
'IS- 

In  gradually  assimilating  many  races  we  are  'giving  hostages  to  petce.' 
Hough,  Emerson.  What  one  hyphenate  thinks.  Outlook.  119: 

627-8.    Ag.  21,  '18. 
Housing  and  health  problems  among  immigrants.     Immigrants 

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Contains  Public  Health  nursing,  by  Caroline  Hedger;  Immigrant 
housing  and  Americanization,  by  Albion  Fellows  Bacon;  Housing  «nd 
Americanization,  by  Morris  Knowles. 

How  the  Red  Cross  helps  in  Americanization.    School  Life.    2 :3. 
,       R  16,  '19. 

How  to  assimilate.     Forum.     32 : 686-94.     F.  '02. 
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*Huebner,  Grover  G.    Americanization  of  the  immigrant.  Annals 

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Scholarly  essay  of  value  and  interest,  treating  of  the  whole  problem 
of  Americanization,  its  size  and  difficulties,  and  the  forces  of  Americaniza- 
tion, namely:  School,  trade  unionism,  physical  environment,  and  th§ 
presence  of  American  life — the  church,  politics,  press,  librariei,  immigrant 
•id  societies,  amusements,  and  the  employer. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxxv 

Humphrey,  Grace.    Lincoln  and  the  immigrant.    Outlook.     115: 

234-     F.  7,  '17. 

The  influence  of  Lincoln  in  the  process  of  Americanization. 
Immigrant  and  Americanization.    Editorial.     Outlook.     115:182. 
Ja.  31,  '17. 

Review  of  address  of  Frank  Trumbull  before  the  New  England  Society 
of   New   York   City. 
Immigrant  and  his  community.    Jewish  Charities.    9:209-10.     F. 

'19. 

Urges  neighborhood  movements  as  enlisting  personal  interest  of  the 
immigrant. 

Immigrant  and  the  rest  of  us,  The.  Editorial.  Outlook.  112: 
60-1.  Ja.  12,  '12. 

Review  of  "A  modest  Immigrant,"  by  Agnes  Repplicr,  and  "Lo,  ta« 
Poor  Immigrant,"  by  Frances  A.  Kellor. 

Immigrant  as  an  asset,  The.    Literary  Digest.    50:99.    Ja.  13, '17. 
Review    of    letter    in    "Machinist"    from    Jan    Spaander,    New    York, 
November  9,  on   "Why  immigrants  come  to  the  United  States." 

Immigrant's  Baedeker.  Editorial.  Outlook.  106:287-8.  F.  7, '14. 
Review  of  John  Foster  Carr's  "Immigrant's  Guide." 

"Immigrant's  program  of  Americanization.     Survey.     40:596-7. 

Ag.  24,  '18. 
Individual  work  for  immigrants.     Missionary  Review.     37 : 214- 

22.    Mr.  '14. 

Review  of  methods  of  aiding  immigrants. 

Iron  melting  pot:  what  is  being  done  in  an  iron  mining  town  in 
Minnesota  to  fuse  the  foreigner  with  the  nation,  il.  American 
City  (T.  and  C.  ed)  16:350-3.  Ap.  '17. 

Is  the  American  type  changing?    Outlook.    97:950.    Ap.  29,  'il. 

Change  of  American  type  due  to  amalgamation  and  recent  immi- 
gration. 

Is  the   "melting  pot"   a  failure?    Industry.     1:14.    My.  I,  '19. 

Jardine,  E.  L.  Conserving  the  immigrant  girl.  il.  Bookman.  43 : 
66-71.  Mr.  '16. 

Jenks,  Albert  Edward.  Assimilation  in  the  Philippines  as  inter- 
preted in  terms  of  assimilation  in  America.  American  Jour- 
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Professor  of  sociology  in  the  University  of  Minnesota  defines  the  basit 
of  assimilation  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  Chief  factors  are:  Environment, 
citizenship,  religion,  aspiration,  English  language,  and  volition. 

— .  Ethnic  census  in  Minneapolis.  American  Journal  of  Sociol- 
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— .  Goal  of  Americanization  work.  Survey.  41:505.  Ja.  n, 
'19. 


xxxvi  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

*Jenks,  Jeremiah,  W.  The  immigration  problem;  a  study  of 
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Kallen,  Horace  M.  Democracy  versus  the  melting-pot;  a  study 
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Analytic  critique  of  "The  Old  World  and  the  New,"  by  Edward 
Alsworthy  Ross.  Professor  Kallen  studies  the  attitude  of  Anglo-Saxon 
race  consciousness  toward  immigration  and  expresses  his  belief  that 
America  is  destined  to  become  a  federation  of  nationalities,  each  con- 
serving its  own  racial  language,  customs,  and  characteristics. 

— .  Meaning  of  Americanism.  Immigrants  in  America  Review, 
i :  12-19.  Ja.  '16. 

Review  of  the  growth  of  Americanism,  hyphenation,  and  citizenship. 

Kane,  J.  F.  Big  brother  for  the  naturalization  applicant.  Out- 
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Kawakami,  K.  K.  America  in  Korea.  World  Today.  19 : 1218- 
23.  N.  '10. 

Building  of  railways,  waterworks,  lighting  plants,  and  telephone  sys- 
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Kelley,  Francis  C.     The  Catholic  immigrant  problem.     Catholic 

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Epression    of    questioning    perplexity    concerning    recent    Americanism. 
Kellogg,   Marian   Sherwood.     The   coming  American.     Survey. 
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Review  of  three  books:  A.  Maurice  Low's  "The  American  People," 
Henry  Van  Dyke's  "The  Spirit  of  America,"  and  Herbert  Croly'a  "The 
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*Kellor,  Frances  A.  Americanization:  a  conservation  policy  for 
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— .    How  to  Americanize  a  city.  American  City.    14:  164-6.  F.  '16. 
The  assimilation   of  the   immigrant   is  a  problem   in  which   every  civic 
agency  is  directly  or  indirectly  concerned. 

— .  Immigrant  and  preparedness.  Immigrants  in  America  Re- 
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Advocating  centralized  federal   control   of  immigrant   education. 
*— .     Immigration  in  reconstruction.     North  American  Review. 

209:199-208.     F.  '19. 
— .     Industrial  Americanization.     American   Industries.     19  '35- 

Je.  '19. 


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— .    Justice  for  the  immigrant.    Annals  of  the  American  Acad- 
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A  brief  study  of  exploitation  and  peonage  in  America. 

— .  Lo,  the  poor  immigrant !  Atlantic  Monthly.  117:59-65.  Ja. 
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Reply  to   Miss   Repplier's   "The  Modest   Immigrant."     Reviewed   under 
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— .     The  Nation's  new  front  door.    Harpers  Weekly.    59 :  364-6 ; 

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The   new   immigration   policy  of   California  and  the   West. 
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Survey.     31 :766-7.     Mr.  21,  '14. 

Study  of  the  Americanization  movement  in  Cleveland. 

— .  What  is  Americanization?  Yale  Review,  n.s.  8:282-99.  Ja. 
'19. 

— .  Who  is  responsible  for  the  immigrant  ?  Outlook.  106 :  912- 
17.  Ap.  25,  '14. 

*Knowles,  Morris.  Housing  and  Americanism.  Immigrants  in 
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Kohler,  Max.  J.  Justice  to  immigrants  on  application  for  admis- 
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Relating  to   exclusion   of  immigrants  because   of   unfavorable  industrial 
conditions  in   the  city  to  which  the  immigrant'  is   bound. 

Labaree,  Mrs.  B.  W.  What  New  Britain  is  doing  to  help  the 
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LaFontaine,  Henri.  America's  opportunity.  Survey.  36 : 473-4. 
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International    Americanization    as   a   means    of    peace.     Article    written 
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Lane,  Franklin  K.    Americanization — the  need  and  method.   New 
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— .     How  to  make  Americans.     Forum.    61 :399-4o6.     Ap.  '19. 

— .  What  I  mean  by  Americanization.  Ladies'  Home  Journal. 
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— .  What  is  it  to  be  an  American?  National  Geographic  Maga- 
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Lape,  Esther  Everett.  Americanization.  Columbia  University 
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— .     The  "English  first"  movement  in  Detroit.     Immigrants  in 

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36:35-6.     S.  '19. 
Lauck,  W.  Jett.     Bituminous  coal  miner  and  coke  worker    of 

Western  Pennsylvania.    Survey.    26:34-51.    Ap.  i,  'n. 
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109:706-13.    My.  '12. 
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Mr.  Lauck  was  the  expert  in  charge  of  industrial  investigation  for  the 
United  States  Immigration  Commission.  In  this  paper  he  describes  the 
distribution  of  aliens  and  alien  conditions  of  living  in  industrial  com- 
munities. 

— .     Metaphysical  standards  of  living.    Nation.    95 :425-6.    N.  7, 

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Commentary  on  "The  Vanishing  American  wage  earner." 
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Leach,  H.  G.    Denmark  and  the  American  ideals.    Bookman.    33  : 

639-43.    Ag.  'n. 

Influence   of  American   literature   in   Denmark. 
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The  American-Scandinavian  Society  and  the  American-Scandinavian 
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Lee,  J.  Assimilation  and  nationality.  Charities.  19 :  1453-5.  Ja 
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Opinion  regarding  assimilation  of  immigrants;  their  adverse  influence 
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immigration.  Takes  exception  to  the  position  held  by  Professor  Emily 
Balch  in  "Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens." 

Lending  a  hand  to  the  immigrant.    Outlook.    113 :  397.    Je.  21,  '16. 

Lenz,  Frank  B.  Education  of  the  immigrant.  Educational  Re- 
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— .  San  Francisco's  immigrants.  Immigrants  in  America  Re- 
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Lescohier,  Don  D.  Americanization,  what  is  it?  Modern  City. 
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*Levine,  Max.  Getting  the  immigrants  balance  in  the  Cleveland 
land  courts.  Immigrants  in  America  Review.  1:4,  31-6.  Ja. 
'16. 

Lichtenberger,  J.  P.  Negro  illiteracy  in  the  United  States.  An- 
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Lipman,  Maurice  C.    Equality:  a  silhouette.    World  Today.     14: 
52-3.    Ja.  '08. 
Colorful    description    of    the    effect    of    America    upon    a      Lithuanian 

immigrant. 


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Lipsky,  A.    Political  mind  of  foreign  born  Americans.    Popular 

Science  Monthly.    85  '.397-403.    O.  '14. 

Careful  and  well-written  statistical  analysis  of  the  roting  attitude  of 
Americans,  Russians,  Jews,  Irish,  and  Italians  toward  Tammany,  Socialism, 
and  the  Hearst  papers. 

Living  down  the  hyphen.  Dial.    66:401-5.    Ap.  19,  '19. 

Lowie,  R.  H.     Dr.  Radosavljevich's  critique  of  Professor  Boas' 

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Lowry,  Edward.    Americans  in  the  raw.    World's  Work.  4 :  2644- 

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Finely  illustrated  descriptive  article  of  immigrant  types  upon  arrival 
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*MacBrayne,  L.  E.     How  immigrants  solve  the  cost  of  living. 

World's  Work.     19:12813-15.     Ap.  '10. 
MacDonald,  E.  S.     Helping  them  to  help  themselves;    work  of 

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D.  '16. 
McKenzie,  Fayette  Avery.    Assimilation  of  the  American  Indian. 

American  Journal  of  Sociology.     19 :  761-72.     My.  '14. 
Make  the  Fourth  of  July,  1915,  Americanization  Day.    American 

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Making  of  Americans.    Editorial.    Outlook.    74:969-71.    Ag.  22, 

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^Making  the  foreign-born  one  of  us.  Survey.  40:213-15.  My. 
25,  '18. 

Making  use  of  the  alien.  American  Machinist.  48:637.  Ap.  II, 
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Mason,  Gregory.  Americans  first;  how  the  people  of  Detroit 
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— .  An  Americanization  factory;  an  account  of  what  the  pub- 
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Max,  William  D.  I  am  an  immigrant.  Immigrants  in  America 
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Mayo-Smith,  Richmond.  Assimilation  of  nationalities  in  the 
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Stresses  the  effect  of  physical  environment  in  the  process  of  assimilation. 
Mayper,  Joseph.    Americanizing  immigrant  homes.     Immigrants 
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A  study  of  the  ethnic  composition  of  immigration  to  the  United 
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Miller,  Gustave.  Americanization  of  immigrants.  Outlook.  121 : 
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Miller,  H.  A.  School  and  the  immigrant.  Cleveland  education 
survey.  Survey  commission.  Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleve- 
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Contains:  Cleveland  as  a  foreign  city;  school  children  from  non- 
Eiighsh  speaking  homes;  efforts  of  national  groups  to  preserve  their  lan- 
guages; characteristics  of  national  groups;  problem  of  education  for  the 
foreign  children;  adult  immigrant  and  the  school. 

Mitchell,  Mrs.  W.  S.  Americanization.  Child-Welfare  Maga- 
zine. 13:183-4.  Mr.  '19. 

Morley,  Felix.  Making  Americans.  Nation.  108:878.  My.  31, 
'19. 

The   Americanization    conference   at   Washington. 

My  mother  and  I ;  a  story  of  how  I  became  an  American  woman. 
vide  E.  G.  Stern,  il.  Ladies'  Home  Journal.  33  -.21-2.  O.  '16. 

Nation-wide  Americanization  plan.  American  Machinist.  48: 
752.  My.  2,  '18. 

New  York  State  and  the  Americanization  problem.  School  and 
Society.  3 :  776.  My.  27,  '16. 

Nichols,  David  W.  Bristol's  Americanization  campaign.  Amer- 
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Account  by  the  executive  secretary  of  the  Briston  chamber  of  com- 
merce. 

O'Connor,  Alice  W.    Americanization  work  as  a  field  for  college 

women.    Intercollegiate  Community  Service  Quarterly.    4 :3-5. 

Ja.  '19. 

*Old  stock  and  new.    Editorial.    Outlook.     107:334-5.    Je.  13, '14. 
Oskison,  J.  M.    Why  am  I  an  American?    World's  Work.    29: 

209-13.    D.  '14. 

Other  side  of  Americanization.    Americanization.    1 :6.    Jl.  I,  '19. 
Our  foreign-born  citizens.    National  Geographic  Magazine.    31 : 

95-130.    F.  '17. 

Highly  illustrated  with  charts,  diagrams,  and  exceptionally  good  pho- 
tographs of  immigrant  groups  and  individuals  in  native  costume. 

Overdoing  free  education.    Public.    22 :  623.    Je.  14,  '19. 

Pageant's  function  in  Americanization.  Americanization.  1 17. 
Je.  i,  '19. 

Perlman,  Phyllis.    Success  at  forty.    Jewish  Immigration  Bulle- 
tin.   9:11-14.    F.  '19. 
Personal  story  of  a  Roumanian  Jew. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xli 

Peyser,  Nathan.    Co-operating  with  the  immigrant.    Jewish  Im- 
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Preparedness  through  education.     School  and  Society.     5 : 499- 

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Price,  C.  L.    Angel  of  the  roundheads :  copper  country  of  Michi- 
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the    U.    S.    Immigration    Commission,    1910.      Claims    that    Professor    Boas 
makes    unwarranted    conclusions    in    stating    that    even    the    shape    of    the 
head    undergoes    far-reaching    changes    in    type    due    to    the    new    environ- 
ment;  a  new  theory  which  is  not  justified  by  his  own  figures  and  is  not 
based   on   scientific   methods   and   on   the   required  technic  of   experimental 
physical  anthropology. 

Ravage,  M.  E.    Absorbing  the  alien.    Century.    95  :26-36.    N.  '17. 
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Vivid  autobiographical  account  of  the  Americanization  process  by  • 
Russian  Hebrew. 

— .     Immigrant's  burden.     New  Republic.    19:209-11.    Je  14,  '19. 

— .     Immigrant's  luck.     Harper.     134:837-48.     My.  '17. 

— .     Loyalty  of  the  foreign  born.    Century.    94:201-9.    Je. '17. 

Attitude  of  a  young  Russian  Hebrew  toward  the  war.  Interesting  as 
showing  "a  certain  attitude  of  condescension  in  foreigners,"  once  noted 
by  Lowell. 

— .    My  plunge  into  the  slums.'   Harper.    134:658-65.    Ap. '17. 

— .     Prophet  from  America.    Harper.    134:388-95.    F.  '17. 

— .      Standardizing   the   immigrant.      New    Republic.      19:145-7. 

My.  31,  '19. 

Scores  our  treatment  of  the  alien. 

— .    Task  for  Americans.    New  Republic.    19:349-51.    Jl.  16, '19. 
— .    To  America  on  foot.    Harper.    134:479-86.    Mr.  '17. 

The  foregoing  papers  have  just  been  published  in  book  form  under 
the  title  "An  American  in  the  Making."  New  York.  Harper.  1917.  $1.40. 

Read,  Elizabeth.    Gentle  art  of  alienating  aliens.    Immigrants  in 

America  Review.     1 :  70-9.     S.  '15. 

Outlines  the  legal  status  of  the  immigrant  in  the  various  states. 
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Rigorous  protest  against  the  attitude  of  condescension  of  the  recent 
immigrant  toward  the  native-born  American. 

Remnitz,  Virginia  Yeaman.  Story  of  Senate  bill  5464;  the 
Smith-Bankhead  Americanization  bill.  North  American  Re- 
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xlii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Richmon,  Viola.  Work  Among  the  Poles.  Immigrants  in  Amer- 
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Riis,  Jacob  A.  Man  who  is  an  immigrant.  Survey.  25  :868-Q. 
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Ripley,  William  Z.  The  European  population  of  the  United 
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— .  Race  progress  and  immigration.  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy.  130-8.  Jl.  '09. 

Roberts,  Peter.  Anthracite  coal  communities.  New  York.  Mac- 
millan.  1904.  $3.50. 

— .  Employment  of  girls  in  textile  industries  of  Pennsylvania, 
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— .  Immigrant  races  in  North  America.  New  York.  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
1910.  109  p.  75c.  paper  soc. 

Robbins,  Jane  E.  The  foreign-born  American.  Outlook.  83: 
891-3-  Ag.  18,  '08. 

Brief   appreciation    of   the   newcomer. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore.  Americanism  and  Americanization;  selec- 
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— .  Good  citizenship;  an  address  to  the  boys  of  the  Hill 
School.  Je.  9,  '13.  Outlook.  104:750-3.  Ag.  '13. 

— .  Pioneer  spirit  and  American  problems.  Outlook.  96:56-60. 
S.  10,  '10. 

Rosenstein,  David.  Crucial  issue  in  war-time  education — Amer- 
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Ross,  Edward  A.     Immigrants  in  politics;    the  political  conse- 
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Graphic  presentation  of  the  results  of  the  combination  of  the  political 

boss   and  the   immigrant. 

— .    Lesser  immigrant  groups  in  America.    Century.    88 :  934-40. 

O.  '14. 
— .     Racial  consequences  of  immigration.     Century.     87:615-22. 

F.  '14. 

This  paper  by  the  professor  of  sociology  at  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin prophesies  lamentable  consequences  to  the  American  people  unless 
immigration  is  restricted. 

*Rumsey,  Frances.  Racial  relations  in  America.  Century.  97: 
781-6.  Ap.  '19. 


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Rush,  Charles  E.    The  man  in  the  yards.    Bulletin  of  the  Amer- 
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Librarian  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  public  library  discussei  modes  in  whick 

libraries  may  reach  the  immigrant  worker. 

Sarkar,  Benoy  Kumar.  Americanization  from  the  viewpoint  of 
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Schauffler,  R.  H.  Island  of  desire.  Outlook.  100 : 666-73.  Mr. 
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School  and  Society.    9:720-1.    Je.  14,  '19.    Public  Education. 

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Semple,  Helen  Merrick.    Sin  of  waste.    Missionary  Review.    41 : 

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Mr.  i,  '19. 
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Account  of  the  southern  Italian  immigration  to  the  United  Sutei 
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Assimilation  in  the  United  States  is  facilitated  by  climate,  easy 
intercommunication,  education,  suffrage.  Types  of  immigrants  are  analyzed. 
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Slabey,  Frank.     Only  American  in  my  family.     Ladies'  Home 

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Story  of  Italian  life  in  America. 

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Sprague,  Leslie  Willis.  Americanization  through  the  motion 
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Mrs.    Schubert's  work  among  miner's   wives   in   West  Virginia. 

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Division  of  work  with  the  Foreign  born  of  the  Committee  on 
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immigrant,  foreign  language  press,  and  the  government. 

Unpaid  war  debt;  obligation  to  coke  oven  toilers.  World  Out- 
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A  tribute  to  a  great  American  sculptor  of  Austrian  birth,  with  four 
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Account  of  the  French-American   College  in  Worcester,   Mass. 
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Study   of   naturalization   in    a    Nebraska   county. 

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Winslow,  John  Kenelin.  Your  Chinese  neighbors.  World  Out- 
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Winter,  Kathlene  B.  Made-in-America  democracy.  World  Out- 
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Wisconsin  town  erects  community  house  to  promote  American- 
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An   immigrant   girl's   effort   to   find    the   higher   life   in   America. 
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An    indictment    of    the    native    American. 

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Account  of  the  work  of  the  United  States  bureau   of  naturalization. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Yust,  William  F.  What  of  the  Black  and  Yellow  Races?  Ad- 
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N.Y.  June  1913 — published  in  Papers  &  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Library  Association.  Chicago.  1913.  159-67. 

Paper  concerning  Americanization  of  the  negro  through  public  libra- 
ries, by  the  present  librarian  of  the  Rochester,  N.  Y  ,  public  library, 
formerly  librarian  in  Louisville,  Kentucky. 

Znaniecki,  Florian.    Social  attitudes  of  the  peasant  and  the  prob- 
lem of  his  Americanization.     Immigrants  in  America  Review. 
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Read  at  the  conference  of  Polish  social  workers,  Indianapolis,  May   n, 

1916. 

AGENCIES 

Newspapers  and  magazines 
American  Leader,  The.    008-912  Woolworth  Building,  New  York. 

Published  the  second  and  fourth  Thursdays  of  each  month  in  the 
interests  of  the  foreign-born  population  by  the  American  Association  of 
Foreign  Language  Newspapers.  $2.  Editors:  Louis  N.  Hammerling. 
Armour  Caldwell,  Ira  E.  Bennett. 

The  total  number  of  newspapers  comprising  this  association  is  742. 
These  papers  are  published  in  35  States  and  are  printed  in  30  languages. 
The  total  sworn  circulations  of  these  newspapers  are  over  8,000,000;  their 
combined  capital  is  $27,000,000.  The  total  foreign-speaking  population 
reached  is,  according  to  the  United  States  Census  of  IQIO,  over  32,000,000. 

Americanization.  Published  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education,  Department  of  the  Interior,  Americanization  Divi- 
sion. Washington,  D.C. 

Immigration  Journal.  W.  W.  Husband,  editor.  Published  by  the 
Immigration  Journal  Company,  Washington,  D.C. 
A  monthly  magazine  devoted  exclusively  to  immigration  and  closely 
related  subjects.  Its  purpose  is  to  discuss  impartially  all  phases  of  immi- 
gration, including  immigration  after  the  war  and  Oriental  immigration;  to 
present  without  prejudice  current  information  on  the  immigration  move- 
ment and  the  immigrant  as  a  factor  in  the  population  of  the  United  States; 
to  report  the  activities  of  the  federal  government  with  relation  to  immi- 
gration and  naturalization;  the  progress  of  immigration  legislation  in  Con- 
gress; the  acts  of  state  and  municipal  governments  concerning  aliens;  the 
work  of  the  various  organizations  ipterested  in  immigration  and  immi- 
grants, and  court  decisions  relative  to  all  phases,  and  to  support  every 
movement  that  is  sensibly  and  honestly  directed  to  Americanizing  the 
immigrants  and  developing  the  best  that  is  in  them. 

Subscription  price,  $1.00;  for  foreign  countries,  $1.25.  The  first  number 
appeared  March,  1916. 

Immigrants  in  America  Review.  A  magazine  issued  quarterly 
by  the  Committee  for  Immigrants  in  America.  N.Y.  Editor, 
Frances  A.  Kellor.  Engineering  Building,  West  39  St.,  New 
York.  $2. ;  single  numbers,  5oc. 

The  first  number,  March,  1916,  announced  the  purpose  of  the  matra- 
adoption  of  a  national  policy  with  reference  to  admitted  aliens.  Six 
numbers  were  published. 


xlviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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GENERAL    METHODS 
TECHNIC   OF   RACE-ASSIMILATION 

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SCHOOLS 

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More  than   30,000  foreigners  attend  these  night  schools. 

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*Buchanan,  John  T.  How  to  assimilate  the  foreign  element  in 
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— .    Immigration  after  the  war.     Social  Service  Review.    3:10- 
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— .  Annual  report,  Detroit  Americanization  and  evening  high 
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Read    at    the    spring    meeting    of    the    New    England      Association     of 
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Crone,  Frank  L.    Educating  the  Filipino  people;  an  episode   in 
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337-50.    Jl.  '19. 


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Education  of  the  immigrants.  United  States.  Bureau  of  Educa- 
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9:129-33.    F.  i,  '19. 
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577-84.    Jl.  '10. 

Account  of  the  work  of  the  American  International  College  at  Spring- 
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Falkner,  Roland  P.    Immigration  and  education.    Cyclopedia  of 

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A  discussion  of  evening  and  day  classes  for  teaching  English  to  for- 
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— .  Public    facilities    for    educating    the     alien.     United     States 
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Government  printing  office,  1916. 
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The  first  public  school  class  for  adult  workers  in  a  factory  or  place 
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Fitzpatrick,  A.  Swingteam  boss :  school  in  the  construction  camp 
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Gard,  Eva  D.  The  foreign  pupil.  Journal  of  education.  67: 
683-4-  Je.  18,  '08. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  li 

Gaus,  John  Merriman.  Municipal  program  for  educating  immi- 
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My.  '18. 

Getting  the  grown-up  to  school.     Survey.    41 :  903-4.    Mr.  22,  '19. 

Getting  the  immigrant  child  to  school.  American  City.  13 :  323. 
O.  '15. 

Gibson,  Mary  S.  Member,  California  Commission  on  Immigra- 
tion and  Housing.  The  education  of  immigrant  women  in 
California.  Immigrants  in  America  Review.  1:2:13-17.  Je. 

'15- 

Hoose,  J.  H.  Educational  problems  of  Americanizing  immi- 
grants. Education.  25:269-78.  Ja.  '05. 

— .  Psychology  of  nationalizing  foreign  mind,  or  the  educational 
problem  of  Americanizing  immigrants.  Education.  25 : 269- 
78.  Ja.  '05. 

Professor  of  psychology  of  the  University  of  Southern  California  sum- 
marizes the  situation. 

Howerth,  Joseph.    The  foreign  child  in  the  public  schools.    Penn- 
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Hoyt,  Margaret  Helen.     Making  Americans  in  Minnesota.     Ed- 
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Women.  Department  of  Immigrant  Aid,  146  Henry  St.,  New 
York.  1918. 

Immigrant  education.    In  California  Commission  of  Immigration 
and  Housing.     2d  annual  report,  1916,  p.  118-96. 
Discusses    English    education,    citizenship   education,    labor   camp   educa- 
tion, home  education  for  women. 

Immigrant  education.    School  and  Society.    4 :  397-8.    S.  9,  '16. 

*Immigrant  education;  with  bibliography.  New  York  (state) 
University.  Bulletin  681.  2ip.  Mr.  I,  '19. 

Johnson,  Mary  Elliott.  Helping  men  to  help  themselves ;  exten- 
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613-14.  N.  '17. 

Kellor,  Frances  A.  Education  of  the  immigrant.  Educational 
Review.  48:21-36.  Je.  '14. 

Comprehensive  survey  and  plan  of  schooling  for  immigrants. 

— .  Who  is  responsible  for  the  immigrant  ?  il.  Outlook.  106 : 
912-17.  Ap.  25,  '14. 

Lenz,  F.  B.  Education  of  the  immigrant:  education  of  immi- 
grant adults  and  evening  schools  for  foreigners.  Educational 
Review.  51 : 469-77.  My.  '16. 


lii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Loeb,  Max.     Compulsory  English   for  foreign-born.      Survey. 
40:426-7.    Jl.  13,  '18. 

Nine  principles  advocated  for  places  of  employment. 
Mahoney,  John  Joseph,  and  Herlihy,  Charles  M.    First  steps  in 

Americanization;    a  handbook    for    teachers.      143?.     *75c. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  New  York.     1918. 
May,  Ellen.    Italian  education  and  immigration.    Education.    28: 

450-53.    Mr.  '08. 

Miller,  Herbert  A.     School  and  the  immigrant.     (Cleveland  edu- 
cation survey.)      102  p.   '16.     25c.     Survey  com.,   Cleveland 

found.,  Cleveland,  O. 

Contains:  Cleveland  as  a  foreign  city;  School  children  from  non- 
English  speaking  homes;  Efforts  of  national  groups  to  preserve  their 
languages;  Characteristics  of  national  groups;  Problem  of  education  for 
the  foreign  children;  Adult  immigrant  and  the  school. 

Minckley,    Loren    Stiles.     Americanization    through    education. 

304p.  $2.    L.  S.  Minckley,  Supt.  of  Public  Schools,  Frontenac, 

Kan.    1917. 
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88:499-504.    F.  29,  '08. 
Moskowitz,  Henry.    Place  of  the  immigrant  child  in  the  social 

program.    Child  in  City.    pp.  257-69. 
Mumford,  Mary  E.    The  public  school  and  the  immigrant.    Child 

Welfare  Magazine.    4 :  226-9.    Ap.  '10. 
New  Americanism.    Review  of  Reviews.    59:656.    Je.  '19. 

Recruit  educational  center  at  Camp  Upton. 

New  approach  to  Americanization  work.    Outlook.     122:459-60. 

Jl.  23,  '19- 
Orcutt,  Hortense  M.    Training  of  the  immigrant  child.    Southern 

Education  Quarterly.    1 :  56-61.    Ja.   08. 

In  the  kindergarten. 

Pinkham,  C.     Educate  the  immigrant.    Outlook.    99:384-7.    O. 
14,  'ii. 

Prince,  J.  D.     Educating  the  adult  immigrant.     Charities.     17: 
890-1.     F.  16,  '07. 

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Richman,  Julia.    The  immigrant  child.    National  Education  As- 
sociation.    Journal.     113-21.     1905. 

Rockow,  L.    Americanization  and  the  pillar  of  Democracy.    Edu- 
cation.    37:174-83.     N.  '16. 
The   "pillar   of   democracy"   is  the  school.     This  paper  is  an  analysis 

of  American  schooling  by  an  immigrant  graduate  of  the  public  school. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  liii 

Rumball,  Edwin  A.  Participating  Americans:  the  story  of  one 
year's  work  for  the  Americanization  of  Buffalo.  i6p.  Civic 
Education  Association.  Buffalo,  N.Y.  1917. 

Sanville,  F.  L.  Unemployment,  education  and  the  immigrant's 
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i,  '15- 

Schuster,  Sarah  J.  The  foreigner  and  the  free  evening  school. 
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— .  What  the  evening  school  is  doing  for  the  immigrant.  Jour- 
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Shaw,  Adele  Marie.  Evening  schools  for  foreigners.  World's 
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Shiels,  Albert.    Editor.    The  school  and  the  immigrant. 
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Sleszynski,  Thaddeus  and  Amine.  Leadership  in  Americaniza- 
tion. Survey.  42:746-7.  Ag.  23,  '19. 

Urges  scholarships  for  training  in  group  leaderships. 

Smith,  Mary  Gove.    Foreign  child  and  the  teacher.     Education. 

38:504-7.     Mr.  '18. 

Sternberger,  E.  M.    Gary  and  the  foreigner's  opportunity.    Sur- 
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82.     S.  '06. 

Discussion,  pp.   182-4. 
Suggestions  for  humanizing  immigrant  education.     Immigrants 

in  America  Review.    1:2:66-67.    Je.  '15. 
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The  factory  class  supervised  by  the  Board  of  education. 

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Teaching  English  to  adult  women.    Survey.    41 1873 ;  42  :is6.    Mr. 

15,  Ap.  26,  '19. 

Women's  Municipal  League  of  Boston. 
To  educate  the  immigrant  for  citizenship.    Literary  Digest.    52: 

903.    Ap.  i,  '16. 


liv  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Tully,  Francis  W.  Chamber  and  the  alien ;  and  Thompson, 
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Vaughan,  J.  The  evening  schools  of  Chisholm,  Minn.  Immi- 
grants in  America  Review.  2 : 83-4.  Ap.  '16. 

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— .  The  'America  First'  Campaign  of  the  Bureau  of  Education. 
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— The  National  Magazine,  N.  '16. — Immigrants  in  America 
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— .  How  the  Federal  Government  is  Helping  Community  Amer- 
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— .  How  Uncle  Sam  is  Securing  Educational  Facilities  For  His 
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425-54. 

Contains:      i.      The   problem;   legislation  affecting  immigrant  education; 
special    administrative    features;    content    of    English    instructipn;    methods 
of    teaching;    private    agencies   and   immigrant    education;    special    organiza- 
tions;  adult   immigrant   education   in  Canada. 
— .  Same.      Reprinted.     425-54.     '17.     U.  S.  bureau  of  education. 

— .  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  and  Americanization. — 
New  Jersey  Educational  Bulletin,  October,  1916. 

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— .  The  Work  of  the  Division  of  Immigrant  Education. — Penn. 
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BIBLIOGRAPHY  lv 


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*American  Library  Association :  statement  on  enlarged  program. 
Americanization  by  the  public  library.     Survey.     41 :  537-8.     Ja. 

18,  '19. 
Americanization  movement  helped  on  by  the  library.     Brooklyn 

Public  Library  Bulletin.    II  :77-8i.    F.  '19. 
Bailey,  Arthur  L.    How  shall  the  library  help  the  working  man. 

Library  Journal.     32:198-201.     My.  '07. 

Hints  to  librarians. 
Books  in  foreign  languages.    Library  Journal.    30 :  808.    '05. 

A.  L.  A.  discussion  at  Lake  Placid  by  R.  R.  Bowker,  Isabel  E.  Lord, 
J.  F.  Carr,  Miss  A.  Van  Valkenburgh,  Grace  D.  Rose,  Mr.  Anderson, 
Miss  Avery,  Miss  Coit 

Borreson,  Lily  M.  E.  Foreign  books  in  the  public  library.  Min- 
nesota Public  Library  Commission  Notes.  3:  in.  S.  'u. 

Bostwick,  Arthur  E.  Books  for  the  foreign  population.  Library 
Journal.  31 : 67-70.  '06. 

Address   at   conference   of  librarians,   Narragansett   Pier,  June,    1906. 
Account   of    the   circulation   of   foreign    books   in   the    branches    of   the 

N.  Y.  Public   Library  by  the  chief  of  circulation   department. 

Britton,  Jasmine.    Library's  share  in  Americanization.     Library 

Journal.    43723-7-    O.  '18. 
Buchner,  D.     University  of  Alabama.     The  free  public  library 

and    the    industrial    community.     Alabama    Library    Assoc. 

Pamphlet.    Referred  to  in  Library  Journal.    33  :  22.    Ja.  '08. 

Influence  of  libraries  on  industrial  classes  in  America  and  Europe. 
Statistics  p.  100. 

Campbell,  J.  Maud.  Director.  Work  with  foreigners,  Massachu- 
setts Free  Library  Commission.  Americanizing  books  and 
periodicals  for  immigrants.  American  Library  Association 
Bulletin.  10:269-72.  Jl. '16. 

— .     An   educational   opportunity  and  the   library.      Library 

Journal.     32:157-8.     Ap.  '07. 

Former  librarian  of  Passaic,  N.  J.,  discusses  needs  of  aliens  and 

methods  of  Americanization.  Important  early  contribution.  Suggestions 

relating  to  teaching  reading,  writing,  use  of  English,  and  citizenship. 

— .  Books  for  the  foreign  population.  Library  Journal.  31 : 
71-2.  '06.  Address  at  Conference  of  Librarians,  Narragansett 
Pier,  June,  1906. 

A  paper  by  the  librarian  of  the  Passaic  Public  Library  suggesting  a 
state  library  commission  "to  investigate  the  general  condition  of  non- 
English  speaking  residents  with  a  view  to  their  education  and  enlighten- 
ment upon  the  principles  and  policy  of  our  government  and  institutions 
and  the  rights  and  opportunities  of  its  citizens." 


Ivi  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

— .  Foreign  periodicals.  Massachusetts  Library  Club  Bulletin, 
no.  4,  p.  67-9.  Mr.-My.  '14. 

Reprinted  as  pamphlet  by  Massachusetts  Free  Public  Library  Com- 
mission. 

— .  The  public  library  and  the  immigrant.  New  York  Libraries, 
i :  100-5  J  132-6.  Jl.  '08. 

Detailed  suggestions  to  librarians  on  pp.  133-6  concerning  selection 
and  buying  of  books  for  immigrant  readers:  Bohemian,  Dutch,  Hun- 
garian, Italian,  Polish,  Russian,  Solvak,  Yiddish,  and  Hebrew. 

— .     Supplying  books  in   foreign  languages  in  public  libraries. 

Library  Journal.    29 :  65-7.    '04. 

An  instructive  account  of  work  with  foreigners  in  Passaic,  N.  J. 
— .     What  the  foreigner  has  done  for  one  library.    Passaic,  N.J. 

Public  Library.    Library  Journal.    38:610-15.    N.  '13. 

Reprinted  from  the  Massachusetts  Library  Club  Bulletin  for  July, 
1913.  Important  contribution. 

Canfield,  James  Hulme.  Books  for  the  foreign  population.  Li- 
brary Journal.  31 :  65-7.  '06.  Address  at  Conference  of  Li- 
brarians, Narragansett  pier,  June,  1906. 

A  working  plan  by  the  librarian  of  Columbia  University  for  libraries 
to  reach  the  alien. 

— .     The  service  of  the  library  in  making  new  Americans.    Li- 
brary Journal.     30 : 808.    '05. 
Brief  discussion  of  the  relation  of  the  library  to  the  alien. 

Carr,  John  Foster.  Books  in  foreign  languages  and  Americaniza- 
tion. Library  Journal.  44:245-6.  Ap.  '19. 

— .  Immigrant  and  library;  Italian  helps;  with  lists  of  selected 
books.  New  York.  Immigrant  Education  Society.  1914, 
93  P.  35c- 

This  volume  is  the  first  of  a  series  intended  to  help  librarians  and 
others  in  the  selection  of  suitable  literature  in  the  immigrant's  own  tongue. 
The  books  listed  are  grouped  by  subject,  after  which  they  are  alphabetically- 
arranged  by  authors  unless  published  anonymously.  Following  the  au- 
thor's name  are  the  title,  the  name  (in  Italian)  of  the  place  of  publica- 
tion, and  the  publisher's  name,  the  date  of  edition,  brief  bibliographical 
description,  and  the  price  in  Italian  money.  There  is  also  a  short  annotated 
list  of  the  best  Italian  periodicals  and  newspapers,  with  a  brief  intro- 
ductory survey  of  Italian  periodical  literature. 

— .  The  library  and  the  immigrant.  American  Library  Asso- 
ciation; Proceedings  of  the  Washington  conference,  140-6, 
'14.  Chicago.  78  East  Washington  St.  1914. 

— .     Some  of  the  people  we  work  for.    New  York.     Immigrant 
Publication  Society.     1916. 
Address    delivered   before    the   American    Library   Association,    Asbury 

Park,  N.  J.,  June  29,  '16. 

— .    What  the  library  can  do   for  our   foreign-born.     Library 

Journal.    38:566-8.    O.  '13. 

Suggestive  and  helpful  account  of  library  work  with  aliens  in  Mt. 
Vernon,  N.  Y. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  Ivii 

Chicago  Library  Club.    Reaching  the  foreign  peoples  in  Chicago. 

Library  Journal.     40 :  273-4.     Ap.  '15. 

Brief  of  addresses  by  Grace  Abbott,  director  of  the  Immigrants'  Pro- 
tective League  of  Chicago,  and  by  Henry  E.  Legler,  librarians  of  the 
Chicago  Public  Library. 

Churchill,  Winston.  Mission  of  the  public  library.  Library  Jour- 
nal. 28:115.  '03. 

Comstock,  Sarah.  Eight  million  books  a  year.  World's  Work. 
26 : 100-8. 

Describes  activities  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  including  work 
with  foreigners. 

Countryman,  Gratia.  A.  Lines  of  work  which  a  state  library 
commission  can  profitably  undertake.  American  Library  As- 
sociation, Montreal  Conference,  1900.  Library  Journal.  25 : 
51-4.  'oo. 

Suggesting  work  for  foreigners  and  for  mining  and  lumber  camps. 
In  this  article,  as  secretary  of  the  Minnesota  State  Library  Commission, 
Miss  Countryman  was  one  of  the  first  to  draw  attention  to  the  oppor- 
tunity of  the  library  to  meet  the  needs  of  aliens  and  labor  employed  in 
lumber  and  construction  camps. 

— .  Shall  public  libraries  buy  foreign  literature  for  the  benefit 
of  the  foreign  population?  Library  Journal.  23:229-31.  '98. 

A  classic  of  Americanization,  by  the  librarian  of  the  Minneapolis 
public  library,  being  one  of  the  earliest  important  contributions  to  the 
subject. 

Crawford,  Ruth.  Immigrants  in  St.  Louis.  Studies  in  social 
economics,  published  by  the  St.  Louis  school  of  social  eco- 
nomics, i :  no  2. 

Gives  credit  to  the  St.  Louis  public  library  for  its  work  in  the 
interests  of  foreign  citizens.  Referred  to  in  Public  Libraries  21:255,  Jl.  '16. 

Daggett,  M.  P.  Library's  part  in  making  Americans.  Delineator. 
77:17-18.  Ja.  'ii. 

Ethics  of  supplying  foreign  literature  to  aliens.  Editorial.  Li- 
brary Journal.  19 : 328.  O.  '94. 

This  editorial  was  the  cause  of  much  discussion,  which  greatly  stimu- 
lated library  action  in  meeting  the  civic  and  educational  needs  of  aliens. 

Evans,  George  Hill.  Aids  to  the  technical  and  industrial  worker. 
Library  Journal.  34 :  100-3.  Mr.  '09. 

Deals  with  the  endeavor  to  help  the  poor  workman  to  become  a  good 
workman. 

Extension  work  in  the  Detroit  public  library.  Michigan  Li- 
braries. 1:23.  D.  'n. 

Detailed  account  of  methods  employed  in  placing  branch  and  loan 
libraries  in  industrial  plants  for  the  use  of  workers,  with  list  of  twenty- 
one  stations,  including  eleven  factories. 

Fiske,  A.  J.  Human  interest  in  library  work  in  a  mining  district. 
Public  Libraries.  13 :  78-81.  Mr.  '08. 


Iviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Fitzpatrick,  Alfred.  Lumber  camps,  Libraries  in.  Library  Ex- 
tension in  Ontario;  traveling  libraries  and  reading  camps. 
Small  pamphlet  issued  for  author.  Nairn  Centre,  Ontario, 
Canada. 

Review  in  Library  Journal  26:141  and  296,  '01.  The  beginnings  of 
this  movement. 

Frank,  Mary,  and  Carr,  John  Foster.  Exploring  a  neighbor- 
hood. Century.  98:375-90.  Jl.  '19. 

Freeman,  Marilla  Waite.  Louisville  Free  Public  Library.  Re- 
lation of  the  library  to  the  outside  world  or  the  library  and 
publicity.  Journal.  33 : 488-92.  D.  '08. 

Gaillard,  Edward  White.  Why  public  libraries  should  supply 
books  in  foreign  languages.  Library  Journal.  28 : 67.  '03. 

Hansen,  Agnes.    Work  with  foreigners.    American  Library  As- 
sociation.   Proceedings,  1915 :  196-9. 
A  statement  of  work  with  aliens  in  Seattle,  Wash. 

Helps  in  government  and  language  for  immigrants.  Public  Li- 
braries. 16:111-12.  Mr.  'u. 

Hewins,  Caroline  M.  comp.  Library  notes.  Hartford  Courant. 
O.  24,  '15. 

Howard,  C.  E.  Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburg  and  the  foreigner. 
Pennsylvania  Library  Notes.  3 :  12-16.  O.  '10. 

Hrbek,  S.  Library  and  the  foreign  born  citizen.  Public  Li- 
braries. 15  :  98-104.  Mr.  '10. 

Hungarian  books  for  public  libraries.  Library  Journal.  29 : 408. 
'04. 

Industrial  possibilities  of  public  libraries :  Books  for  men  in  shops 
(Dayton,  O.).     Library  Journal.     33:100.     Mr.  '08. 
Refers  to   list  of  books  for   workmen  in   Dayton,    Ohio,  public   library. 

Italian  literature  in  American  libraries.  Library  Journal.  31 :  26. 
'06.  Treats  of  an  exhibit  in  Italy  relating  to  all  phases  of  Ital- 
ian emigration  to  the  United  States. 

Jacobson,  Karen  M.  (Mrs.)  What  Minnesota  does  for  its  for- 
eign born  citizen.  Minnesota  Library  Commission.  Notes, 
i :  9,  3L 

Josephson,  Aksel  G.  S.  Foreign  books  in  American  libraries. 
Library  Journal.  19 :  364.  N.  '04. 

This  letter  was  written  in  criticism  of  an  editorial  in  the  Library 
Journal  October,  1894,  and  was  the  earliest  discoverable  communication 
on  Americanizing  the  alien  through  library  activities. 

Kudlicka,  J.  Library  work  among  foreigners.  Public  Libraries. 
15 :  375-6.  N.  '10. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  lix 

Library  work  with  foreigners.    Editorial.    Library  Journal.    34: 

469.     '09. 

To  provide  books  in  foreign  languages. 

Library's  part  in  making  Americans.  Editorial.  New  York  Li- 
braries. 4:235-6.  Ag.  '15. 

McPike,  Josephine  M.  The  foreign  child  at  a  St.  Louis  branch. 
Library  Journal.  40:851-5.  D.  '15. 

Study   of  the  Jewish   child  and   the  library. 

Maltby,  Mrs.  Adelaide  B.  Immigrants  as  contributors  to  library 
progress.  Address  at  the  35th  annual  meeting  of  the  A.L.A. 
Kaaterskill,  N.Y.  June,  1913.  Published  in  Papers  and  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  American  Library  Association.  Chicago.  1913. 
p.  150-4- 

Martin,  Arabel.  Buying  of  foreign  books  for  small  libraries. 
Minnesota  Library  Commission  Notes.  1:9,  31. 

Massachusetts  Free  Library  Commission.  Reports,  1914  and  1915. 

Minard,  F.     Stranger  within  the  gates.     Bookman.     35 : 497-502. 

Jl.  '12. 

Moore,  Anne   Carroll.     New  York  Public  Library.     Children's 

books  in  Bohemian.    Library  Journal.     34:171.     '09. 
— .    N.Y.  Public  Library.    Library  membership  as  a  civic  force. 

Library  Journal.     33  :  269-74.    Jl-  '08. 

Suggestions  on  ways  and  means  of  extending  the  usefulness  of  the 
library. 

Account   of   methods   for   reaching  the   technical   worker. 

Morningstern,  William  B.    Technical  department  of  Free  Public 

Library  of  Newark,  N.J.  Library  Journal.  34 :  104-6.  Mr.  '09. 
Newark,  N.J.  Public  Library.  The  Newarker,  December  1913. 
— .  Welcome  extended  to  foreigners.  Sunday  Call,  Newark, 

N.J.     F.  22,  '14. 
Palmer,  Margaret.     The  library  and  the  immigrant.     Minnesota 

Library  Commission  Notes.     2 :  192-5.     D.  '09. 

The  librarian,  Hibbing  Public  Library,  describes  the  international 
spirit  in  library  work. 

Patriotism  and  the  public  library.     Dial.    44 : 64-5.     F.  I,  '08. 

Pennsylvania  Free  Library  Commission.  Books  for  the  for- 
eigner. Pennsylvania  Library  Notes.  8:  no.  I.  p.  7.  Ja.  '16. 

Persons,  W.  Frank.  Reading  for  the  poor.  Library  Journal. 
27 : 245-8.  '02. 

Poray,  Aniela.     The  foreign  child  and  the  book.    Library  Jour- 
nal.   40:233-9.    Ap.  '15. 
A  helpful  study  of  the  needs  of  foreign  children. 


Ix  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Prescott,  Delia  R.    Americanization  thru  foreign  print.    Library 

Journal.    43:884-5.    D.  '18. 
Roberts,  Flora  B.     The  library  and  the  foreign  citizen.     Public 

Libraries.     17:166-9.     '12. 

The  librarian  of  the  Public  Library,  Superior,  Wisconsin,  outlines 
library  activities  with  foreigners. 

^Roberts,    Peter.     The   library   and   the    foreign-speaking  man. 

Library  Journal.     36:468-9.     '11. 

A  virile  presenta^n  of  the  needs  of  the  alien  worker  by  the  secre- 
tary of  the  International  Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association. 

Robinson,  Julia  A.  Book  influences  for  defectives  and  depend- 
ents. Helping  those  who  cannot  help  themselves.  Address 
at  the  35th  annual  meeting  of  the  A.L.A.  Kaaterskill,  N.Y. 
June,  1913.  Published  in  Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Library  Association,  Chicago,  1913.  p.  177-82. 

Rush,  Charles  E.  "The  Man  in  the  Yards."  Address  at  the  35th 
annual  meeting  of  the  A.L.A.  Kaaterskill,  N.Y.  June,  1913. 
Published  in  Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the  American  Library 
Association,  Chicago.  1913 : 154-8. 

A  consideration  by  the  librarian  of  the  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  Public 
Library  of  the  relation  of  the  library  to  the  worker. 

Shiels,  Albert.  The  immigrant,  the  school,  and  the  library. 
American  Library  Association.  Bulletin.  10 :  no.  4,  257-62. 
Jl.  '16. 

Solis-Cohen,  Leon  M.  Librarian  Brownsville  Branch,  Brooklyn 
Public  Library.     Library  work  in  the  Brooklyn  Ghetto.     Li- 
brary Journal.     33 : 485-8.     D.  '08. 
Comprehensive    account    by    the    librarian    of   the    Brownsville    Branch, 

Brooklyn  Public  Library,  of  work  with  Jewish  aliens  hungry  for  knowledge. 

Stearns,  L.  E.  Books  for  foreigners.  Library  Journal.  31 :  230. 
'06.  Discussion,  Conference  of  Librarians,  Narragansett 
Pier,  June  1906. 

A  brief  account  of  traveling  libraries  for  foreign  communities. 

Stevens,  Edward  F.  Industrial  literature  and  the  industrial  pub- 
lic at  the  Pratt  Institute  Free  Library.  Library  Journal.  34 : 
95-9.  Mr.  '09. 

— .  How  to  interest  working  men  in  the  use  of  the  library.  Pub- 
lic Libraries.  16:93.  fn. 

Stevens,  W.  R.  Use  of  the  library  by  foreigners,  as  shown  by 
the  Carnegie  Library  at  Homestead,  Pa.  Library  Journal.  35  : 
161-2.  Ap.  '10. 

Excellent  account  showing  variety  and  extent  of  library  work  among 
foreigners  in  a  steel  town. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  Ixi 

Symposium  on  library  work  with  foreigners.  N.Y.  Library  As- 
sociation week  at  Sagamore,  Lake  George,  Sept.  20-27,  1909. 
Library  Journal.  34:439-40.  '09. 

Mokrejs,   Mrs.   John,   Foreign   children   in   the   public  library. 
Campbell,  J.  M.,  Books  for  foreign  readers. 
Rindge,    F.    H.,    Sec'y    International   Committee,   Y.    M.    C.   A.,   Work 

of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  with  foreigners. 
Bostwick,   A.    E.,   and   others. 

University  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Home  Education  Bulle- 
tin, no.  31,  May,  1900.  Public  libraries  and  popular  education 
by  Herbert  B.  Adams.  Albany.  1900.  p.  49-271. 

Webster,  Caroline  F.  Library  work  with  foreigners.  American 
Library  Association.  Proceedings,  1915 : 192-5. 

Wendell,  F.  C.  H.    Stranger  within  our  gates;   what  can  the  li- 
brary do  for  him?    Public  Libraries.    16:89-92.     'n. 
The  Chaplain  of  the  N.  Y.   Episcopal  City  Mission  gives  a  useful  list 

of  useful  magazines  and  papers. 

Wheaton,   H.   H.     An   Americanization  program   for  libraries. 

American  Library  Association.     Bulletin.     10 :  no.  4,  265-68. 

Jl.  '16. 
Wilcox,  Mary  E.     Use  of  the  immigrant  guide  in  the  library. 

Massachusetts  Library  Club  Bulletin.  4:69-73.  Mr.-My.  '14. 
Wolcott,  J.  D.  Library  service  to  immigrants.  U.S.  Bureau  of 

Education.    Report,  1915  :  527-31. 

Excellent  summary  with  statistics. 

Work  with  foreigners.  A  new  library  activity.  Public  Libraries. 
p.  371.  N.  '13. 

An  outline  of  the  work  inaugurated  by  the  Public  Library  Commis- 
sion of  Massachusetts  among  the  foreign-born. 

Working  men  in  libraries.    Two  editorials.    Library  Journal.  33 : 

81-2.     Mr.  '08. 
Workingmen's  libraries  of  German.     Library  Journal.     40:42-3. 

Ja.  '15. 

Account  of  the  growth  of  libraries  of  political  economy,  socialism 
and  natural  science  for  the  use  of  workingmen  in  Germany  as  contrasted 
with  people's  libraries  designed  chiefly  for  entertaining;  the  transplantation 
to  Germany  of  American  method. 

Wright,  Purd  B.    The  library  and  the  mechanic.  Library  Journal. 

34:532-8.     D.  '09. 
Yust,  Wm.  F.    Librarian  Rochester,  N.Y.  Public  Library.  What 

of  the  black  and  yellow  races  ?    American  Library  Association. 

Proceedings.     1913 : 159-67. 

A  comprehensive  discussion  of  the  library  needs  of  negroes,  with  con- 
clusion regarding  libraries  for  negroes. 


Ixii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


INDUSTRY 

*Addams,  Jane.  Recent  immigration:  A  field  neglected  by  the 
scholar.  Educational  Review.  29:245-63.  Mr. '05. 

Treats  mainly  of  the  industrial  aspects  of  the  Americanization  problem. 
Americanization  of  railway  shop  men.     Railway  Age.     67:54-5. 
Jl.  II.     Sec.  i,  '19. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.   work  in  Chicago  Burnside  Shops. 
Americanizing  employees ;    features  of  an  effective  campaign  in 

Connecticut.    Iron  'Age.     103 :966.    Ap.  10,  '19. 
Bliven,  Bruce.     "America  first":   selling  the  idea  to  your  alien 

workers.    Printers'  Ink.     101  '.69-70,  73-6.    N.  29,  '17. 
— .     Turning  immigrants  into  citizens  by  advertising.     Printers' 

Ink.     101:12;*  17-20.     N.  22,  '17. 
*Boswell,  Helen  Varick.     Promoting  Americanism.     Annals  of 

the  American  Academy.    64:204-9.    Mr.  '16. 

Thoughtful  article  by  the  chairman  of  the  education  committee,  Gen- 
eral Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  on  industry  as  the  chief  factor  in 
Americanization;  deals  especially  with  the  Americanization  of  the  alien 
woman  and  suggests  what  clubwomen  can  do  to  aid. 

Clark,  Marian  K.  English  for  safety  campaign  by  the  state  in- 
dustrial commission.  Safety.  6:34-8.  F.  '18. 

* — .  The  English  for  Safety  campaign.  Bureau  of  Industries 
and  Immigration,  New  York  State  Industrial  Commission, 
New  York,  230  Fifth  Ave,  1917. 

*Commons,  John  R.  Americanization  by  labor  unions.  World 
Today.  6.  '03. 

Reprinted   in   Chautauquan    39:225-6,    My.    '04. 

Conference  for  industrial  peace.  Metal  Worker,  Plumber  and 
Steam  Fitter.  91 :283~4.  F.  28  '19. 

The   Inter-Racial    Council. 

Connecticut  Americanization  plan.  American  Industries.  20:22. 
Ag.  '19. 

Program   of  fourteen  points. 

Course  on  industrial  Americanization  at  Harvard.  Americaniza- 
tion Bulletin.     I :  I,  8.    D.  I,  '18. 
Outline  of  course. 

Dooley,  C.  R.  Education  and  Americanization.  Industrial  Man- 
agement. 54:49-51.  o.  '17. 

*Fahey,  J.  H.     American  industry  and  immigration  labor.     Im- 
migrants in  America  Review.    2 :  47-9.    Ap.  '16. 
Article  by  the  retiring  president  of  the   Chamber  of  Commerce   of  the 

United   States   of  America. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  Ixiii 

Kellor,  Frances  A.  Americanization  by  industry.  Immigrants 
in  America  Review.  2 :  April,  1916. 

Argument  for  the  conservation  of  the  alien  in  industry. 

Hammond,  Henry  D.  Americanization  a  problem  in  human  en- 
gineering. Engineering  News.  80:1116-19.  Je.  13,  '18. 

Humphrey,  Grace.  Business  man  and  Americanization.  Every- 
body's. 41 171.  Jl.  '19. 

Industry's  part  in  Americanization  work;  national  conference  on 
Americanization  in  industries.  American  Industries.  19:17- 
18.  Jl.  '19. 

Labor  and  immigration  after  the  war.  Review  of  Reviews.  55 : 
32.  Mr.  '17. 

*Paull,  Charles  H.  Aims  and  standards  in  industrial  Amer- 
icanization. Industrial  Management.  57:148-51.  F.  '19. 

— .  Americanization ;  a  discussion  of  present  conditions  with 
recommendations  for  the  teaching  of  non-Americans.  Report. 
37p.  Solway  Process  Company.  Syracuse,  N.Y.  1918. 

— .  Development  of  Americanization  project.  Industrial  Man- 
agement. 57:213-17.  Mr.  '19. 

Rea,  Samuel.  Making  Americans  on  the  railroad.  Social  Service 
Review.  8:5-7.  S.  '18. 

Same.      Pennsylvania    Railroad    System    Information,    v.    6.    no    5.    8p. 
Ap.    27,   '18. 

— .  Making  Americans  out  of  the  foreign  born.  American 
Lumberman.  2256-49.  Ag.  10,  '18. 

Same.     American    Machinist.     49:673-6.      O.    10,    '18.      Same    abridged. 
Railway    Review.      62:693-5.     My.    u,    '18. 
Pennsylvania   Railroad   system. 

Real  results  of  Americanization  schools  of  Youngstown  Sheet  & 
Tube  Co.  Iron  Age.  102 :  138-9.  Jl.  18,  '18. 

Same.     Iron    Trade    Review.     63:264-5.     Ag.    i,    '18. 
Sanville,  F.  L.     Unemployment,  education  and  the  immigrant's 

chances  in  Pennsylvania  today,    il.    Survey.    34:118-20.    My. 

I,  'IS- 
So-called  American  wage-earner  and  the  strike    at    Lawrence, 

Mass.     Review  of  Reviews.    45:746-7.     Je.  '12. 
Szepesi,   Eugene.     Hyphen   a  cause    of    industrial    inefficiency. 

Textile  World.    53:2962+.    Ja.  12,  '18. 
Talbot,  Winthrop.     Americanization  in  industry;  teaching    the 

English  language  to  aliens.    Industrial  Management.    56:510- 

ii.    D.  '18. 


lady  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

— .     Managing  alien  workers  in  wartime.    Iron  Age.  100:252-3. 
Ag.  2,  '17. 

Human  element  must  be  given  scientific  consideration  in  solving  prob- 
lems which  the  world  war  has  brought  upon  industry.  The  part  of  the 
employer  in  the  process  of  Americanization. 

— .    One  language  industrial  plant:  practical  aim  of  Americani- 
zation.    Industrial  Management.     58:513-20.     O.  '19. 

Teaching  Americanism  in  the  factory.    Literary  Digest.    60 128-9. 
F.  i,  '19- 

Todd,  A.  J.    Job  for  every  alien;  plans  for  fitting  immigration 
to  the  labor  market.    Survey.    37 : 452-3.    Ja.  20,  '17. 

Trumbull,  Frank.    Americanizing  industrial  workers  vitally  im- 
portant task  of  today.     3p.  Frank  Trumbull,  61  Broadway, 
New  York.    1917. 
Reprinted  from  Manufacturers'  Record.     71:68-9.     Ap.   5,  '17. 

Weinstock,  H.     Immigration  and  American  labor.     Annals  of 

the  American  Academy.    69:66-71.    Ja. '17. 
Wolfe,   F.  E.     Admission  to  American  trades  unions.     Johns 

Hopkins  University  Studies.    30:550-65.    '12. 
Woodward,  Roland  B.    Americanization  movement  in  Rochester. 

American  City   (city  edition).     18:157-9-     F-  '*& 

Factory  procedure  in  Rochester  in  cooperation  with  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 


PART  I 
PRINCIPLES  OF  AMERICANISM 


AMERICANISM 

WINTHROP  TALBOT 

Americanism  is  an  attitude  of  mind  upholding  certain  prin- 
ciples. Among  these  principles  are :  that  mankind  is  endowed 
with  unalienable  rights  which  no  laws  may  abrogate  or  nullify; 
that  among  unalienable  rights  of  humankind  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that  government  shall  be  a  government 
of  laws,  not  men ;  that  laws  shall  be  enacted  through  representa- 
tives elected  by  general  suffrage ;  that  the  welfare  of  all  shall  be 
paramount  to  the  privileges  of  the  individual ;  that  the  will  of  the 
majority  shall  prevail  only  when  not  imperilling  basic  rights  of 
humanity;  and  finally  that  enjoyment  of  American  privileges  im- 
plies corresponding  obligations  in  personal  contribution  and  ser- 
vice by  each  for  all,  in  upholding  law,  and  in  orderly  administra- 
tion or  repeal  of  measures  enacted  by  representatives. 

Americanism  is  a  matter  of  the  spirit,  to  be  regarded  and  ap- 
proached in  a  spirit  of  truth.  It  breaks  down  race  and  class 
prejudice.  It  requires  ability  to  read  the  printed  page,  for  it  de- 
pends upon  sharing  thought;  thus  resting  upon  general  intelli- 
gence and  power  to  cooperate,  Americanism  makes  democracy 
possible.  Americanism  implies  freedom,  but  never  can  become 
complete  until  freedom  is  attained  everywhere  and  everywise,  for 
each  is  limited  by  the  ability  of  all  individuals  to  experience,  and 
to  act  together  with  understanding. 

We  are  Americanized  when  our  attitude  of  mind  is  in  accord 
with  these  fundamental  American  principles  of  government  and 
conduct,  when  our  judgment  accepts  them  as  sound  and  our  in- 
dustrial, civic,  and  home  practice  and  mode  of  living  conform 
with  American  standards.  Our  religious  tenets  and  habits  may 
not  be  antagonistic  to  essential  Americanism.  We  must  show 
consideration  for  rights  of  others  and  express  it  through  tolera- 
tion and  courtesy.  "We"  and  "our"  embrace  native-born  and 
alien,  for  our  foreign-born,  although  speaking  no  English  and 
dwelling  again  in  their  home  lands,  may  yet  be  more  truly  Amer- 
icanized than  such  straight  descendants  of  Pilgrim  and  Puritan 
stock  as  may  have  habits  of  thought  and  conduct  which  are  un- 
democratic, intolerant,  and  unfraternal.  Chance  of  birth  and  the 


2  AMERICANISM 

fu-tar.e  cf  inheritance  miy  as  easily  keep  from  sharing  in  Amer- 
icanism the  Bostonian  p.s  the  native  of  Bangkok. 

>  Americanism  as  an  Ideal 

As  Americans  if  we  could  but  grasp  the  elementary  fact  that 
Americanism  is  always  partial  and  incomplete,  an  ideal  to  be 
sought  but  never  fully  to  be  attained  because  always  in  its  per- 
fection just  beyond  our  reach,  how  much  better  Americans  might 
we  ourselves  become,  and  how  far  more  potent  missioners  of  the 
gospel  of  Americanism  would  we  be.  If  our  newcomers,  too, 
could  but  realize  that  Americanism  ever  is  to  be,  and  that  they 
are  helping  in  its  making,  their  enthusiasms  would  be  strength- 
ened, not  shattered,  and  their  power  to  contribute  extended. 

No  other  form  of  government  rests  on  the  fact  that  there  ex- 
ist human  rights  which  are  unalienable.  In  all  republics  save 
ours  the  will  of  the  majority  knows  no  limit,  but  Americanism 
denies  that  even  the  will  of  the  majority  may  legislate  concerning 
fundamental  rights  of  humanity. 

In  our  relation  with  the  world  the  literature  of  Americaniza- 
tion has  now  become  important.  It  is  not  only  Americanism  as  a 
philosophy  of  life  that  claims  our  study,  but  also  the  practical 
means  of  applying  Americanism  to  the  solution  of  complex 
world  problems,  and  these  we  hope  to  visualize  to  our  readers  iv, 
this  Handbook. 

It  is  with  the  hope  of  further  clarifying  our  conception  of 
what  Americanism  is  and  how  to  apply  effectively  our  national 
mechanism  of  Americanization  that  this  Handbook  has  been  com- 
piled. More  than  all  our  need  is  to  comprehend  our  own  pos- 
sibilities as  a  nation  and  to  realize  not  only  that  our  duties  con- 
cern ourselves  and  those  dependent  upon  us,  but  that  in  the 
great  family  of  nations  of  which  we  are  one,  oceans  no  longer 
are  barriers  to  keep  up  from  sharing  the  thought  and  need  of  all. 

Americanization  a  World-process 

Some  of  us  seem  unaware  that  this  process  of  Americaniza- 
tion is  proceeding  rapidly  throughout  the  whole  world.  Even 
since  1000,  during  a  short  fifteen  years,  four  million  emigrants 
or  one  quarter  of  the  immigrants  arriving  on  our  shores  have  re- 
turned to  their  own  lands,  bearing  with  them  the  essential  ideas 
of  Americanism.  It  is  our  emigrant  aliens  who  have  been  Amer- 
icanizing the  world.  It  is  they  who  have  carried  far  and  wide 


AMERICANISM  3 

the  dominant  ideas  of  democracy.  In  America  they  have  found 
free  schooling.  In  America  they  have  discovered  that  freedo 
of  the  mind  which  comes  from  sharing  thought.  In  America 
they  have  been  exploited,  but  in  America  they  have  also  found 
the  best  remedy  for  exploitation  —  free,  general,  and  public 
schooling.  They  come  to  us  as  aliens;  they  go  to  their  home 
lands  as  Americans.  They  return  to  America,  it  may  be,  but  al- 
ways they  are  missionaries  of  democracy  among  their  own  peo- 
ples. 

In  view  of  this  world  movement  and  wide  extension  of 
American  principles  the  time  now  has  come  to  collate  the  litera- 
ture of  Americanization.  In  this  volume  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  present  the  principles  of  Americanism  formulated  by  the 
Elder  Statesmen  as  well  as  those  later  interpretations  by  con- 
temporaneous leaders  who  have  been  compelled  to  grapple  with 
the  larger  American  life  of  to-day  and  its  complex  industrial, 
social,  and  political  problems.  In  order  to  grasp  the  meaning  of 
Americanization,  some  presentation  of  Americanism  in  its  larger 
sense  seemed  to  be  prerequisite. 

For  many  years  America  has  had  to  deal  with  the  technical 
side  of  assimilation  of  so  many  alien  races  that  there  has  grad- 
ually grown  up  a  real  technic  of  Americanization.  In  this  Hand- 
book this  technic  has  been  outlined  and  in  a  large  degree  the 
sources  of  information  upon  this  subject  are  detailed. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  volume  may  bear  a  message  of  larger 
Humanism  and  be  a  means  of  strengthening  our  faith  in  human 
capacities  and  progress.  May  it  be  in  some  measure  a  source  of 
inspiration  to  all  Americans  and  aliens  alike  who  are  fighting  the 
battle  of  Human  Right  as  against  Special  Privilege,  of  Democ- 
racy as  against  Autocracy,  not  only  in  this  Garden  of  the  West, 
but  in  foreign  lands  as  well. 


om  —  . 

ica    /    4-, 

nd  /    t 


AMERICA 

FROM  THE  NATIONAL  ODE,  JULY  4,  1876. 

BAYARD  TAYLOR 
POET,  JOURNALIST,  TRAVELLER,  WORKER  FOR  AMERICA. 

Foreseen  in  the  vision  of  sages 
Foretold  when  martyrs  bled, 
She  was  born  of  the  longing  of  ages, 
By  the  truth  of  the  noble  dead 
And  the  faith  of  the  living  fed ! 
No  blood  in  her  lightest  veins 
Frets  at  remembered  chains 
Nor  shame  of  bondage  has  bowed  her  head. 
In  her  form  and  features  still 
The  unblenching  Puritan   will, 
Cavalier  honor,  Huguenot  grace, 
The  Quaker  truth  and  sweetness, 
And  the  strength  of  the  danger-girdled  race 
Of  Holland,  blend  in  a  proud  completeness. 
From  the  homes  of  all  where  her  being  began 
She  took  what  she  gave  to  Man ; 
Justice,  that  knew  no  station, 

Belief,  as  soul  decreed, 
Free   air   for  aspiration, 
Free    force    for   independent    deed! 

She  takes  but  to  give  again, 
As  the  sea  returns  the  rivers  in  rain; 
And  gathers  the  chosen  of  her  seed 
From  the  hunted  of  every  crown  and  creed. 
Her  Germany  dwells  by  a  gentler  Rhine  ; 
Her  Ireland  sees  the  old  sunburst  shine; 
Her  France  pursues  some  dream  divine ; 
Her  Norway  keeps  his  mountain  pine ; 
Her  Italy  waits  by  the  western  brine ; 

And,  broad-based  under  all, 
Is  planted  England's  oaken-hearted  mood, 

As  rich  in  fortitude 
As  e'er  went  worldward  from  the  island  wall ! 

Fused  in  her  candid  light, 
To  one  strong  race  all  races  here  unite; 
Tongues  melt  in  hers,  hereditary  foemen 
Forget  their  sword  and  slogan,  kith  and  clan. 

'Twas  glory  once  to  be  a  Roman: 
She  makes  it  glory,  now  to  be  a  man ! 


AMERICANISM 

THE    COMPACT    OF   THE    PILGRIM    FATHERS 

MADE  ON  BOARD  THE  "MAYFLOWER"  BEFORE  LANDING  AT  PLYM- 
OUTH IN  l62O.  THIS  AGREEMENT  BECAME  THE  BASIS  FOR  CIVIL 
GOVERNMENT  IN  AMERICA. 

In  ye  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names  are  under- 
writen,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  soveraigne  Lord,  King 
James,  by  ye  grace  of  God,  of  great  Britaine,  France,  and  Ire- 
land king,  defender  of  ye  faith,  etc.,  having  undertaken  for  the 
glory  of  God,  and  advancement  of  ye  Christian  faith  and  honour 
of  our  king  and  countrie,  a  voyage  to  plant  ye  first  colonie  in 
ye  Northerne  parts  of  Virginia,  doe  by  these  presents  solemnly 
and  mutualy  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  one  of  another,  cove- 
nant, and  combine  ourselves  togeather  into  a  civill  body  politick  ; 
for  our  better  ordering,  and  preservation  and  furtherance  of  ye 
ends  aforesaid;  and  by  vertue  hereof  to  enacte,  constitute,  and 
frame  such  just  and  equall  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions, 
and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  meete 
and  convenient  for  ye  generall  good  of  ye  Colonie,  unto  which 
we  promise  all  due  submission  and  obedience.  In  witnes  whereof 
we  have  hereunder  subscribed  our  names  at  Cap-Codd  ye  II  of 
November  in  ye  year  of  the  raigne  of  our  soveraigne  Lord,  King 
James,  of  England,  France,  and  Ireland,  ye  eighteenth,  and  of 
Scotland  ye  fiftie-fourth. 

Anno  Dom.  1620. 

In  Witness  whereof  we  have  caused  these  our  Letters  to  be 
made  Patents;  Witness  Ourself  at  Westminster,  ye  tenth  Day 
of  April,  in  ye  fourth  Year  of  our  Reign  of  England,  France, 
and  Ireland,  and  of  Scotland  the  nine  and  thirtieth. 


AMERICANISM 

THE  PILGRIM   FATHERS    (1620) 

JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILLY 
IRISH  PATRIOT,  IMMIGRANT,  AMERICAN,  EDITOR,  POET,  MAN 

Here,  where  the  shore  was  rugged  as  the  waves, 

Where  frozen  nature  dumb  and  leafless  lay, 

And  no  rich  meadows  bade  the  Pilgrims  stay, 

Was  spread  the  symbol  of  the  life  that  saves : 

To  conquer  first  the  outer  things;  to  make 

Their  own  advantage,  unallied,  unbound ; 

Their  blood  the  mortar,  building  from  the  ground; 

Their  cares  the  statutes,  making  all  anew; 

To  learn  to  trust  the  many,  not  the  few ; 

To  bend  the  mind  to  discipline;  to  break 

The  bonds  of  old  convention,  and  forget 

The  claims  and  barriers  of  class ;  to  face 

A  desert  land,  a  strange  and  hostile  race, 

And  conquer  both  to  friendship  by  the  debt 

That  Nature  pays  to  justice,  love,  and  toil. 

Here,  on  this  rock,  and  on  this  sterile  soil, 

Began  the  kingdom  not  of  kings,  but  men : 

Began  the  making  of  the  world  again. 

Here  centuries  sank,  and  from  the  hither  brink 

A  new  world  reached  and  raised  an  old-world  link, 

When  English  hands,  by  wider  vision  taught, 

Threw  down  the  feudal  bars  the  Normans  brought, 

And  here  revived,  in  spite  of  sword  and  stake, 

Their  ancient  freedom  of  the  Wapentake ! 

Here  struck  the  seed — the  Pilgrims'  roofless  town, 

Where  equal  rights  and  equal  bonds  were  set, 

Where  all  the  people  equal-franchised  met; 

Where  doom  was  writ  of  privilege  and  crown; 

Where  human  breath  blew  all  the  idols  down ; 

Where  crests  were  nought,  where  vulture  bags  were  furled, 

And  common  men  began  to  own  the  world! 

****** 
Give  praise  to  others,  early-come  or  late, 
For  love  and  labor  on  our  ship  of  state; 
But  this  must  stand  above  all  fame  and  zeal : 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers  laid  the  ribs  and  keel. 


AMERICANISM 

On  their  strong  lines  we  base  our  social  health — 
The  man — the  home — the  town — the  commonwealth! 
****** 

In  every  land  wherever  might  holds  sway 
The  Pilgrims'  leaven  is  at  work  to-day. 
The  Mayflower's  cabin  was  the  chosen  womb 
Of  light  predestined  for  the  nation's  gloom. 
God  grant  that  those  who  tend  the  sacred  flame 
May  worthy  prove  of  their  Forefathers'  name. 
More  light  has  come — more  dangers,  too,  perplex : 
New  prides,  new  greeds,  our  high  conditions  vex. 
The  Fathers  fled  from  feudal  lords,  and  made 
A  freehold  state;  may  we  not  retrograde 
To  lucre-lords  and  hierarchs  of  trade. 
May  we,  as  they  did,  teach  in  court  and  school, 

There  must  be  classes,  but  no  class  shall  rule : 
****** 

As  Nature  works  with  changeless  grain  on  grain, 
The  truth  the  Fathers  taught  we  need  again. 
Depart  from  this,  though  we  may  crowd  our  shelves, 
With  codes  and  precepts  for  each  lapse  and  flaw, 
And  patch  our  moral  leaks  with  statute  law, 
We  cannot  be  protected  from  ourselves! 
Still  must  we  keep  in  every  stroke  and  vote 
The  law  of  conscience  that  the  Pilgrims  wrote  ; 
Our  seal  their  secret:     LIBERTY  CAN  BE; 

THE  STATE  IS  FREEDOM  IF  THE  TOWN  IS  FREE. 

The  death  of  nations  in  their  work  began; 
They  sowed  the  seed  of  federated  Man. 
Dead  nations  were  but  robber-holds ;   and  we 
The  first  battalion  of  Humanity ! 
All  living  nations,  while  our  eagles  shine, 
One  after  one,  shall  swing  into  our  line ; 
Our  freedom  heritage  shall  be  the  guide 
And  bloodless  order  of  their  regicide; 
The  sea  shall  join,  not  limit;    mountains  stand 
Dividing  farm  from  farm,  not  land  from  land. 
O  people's  Voice!    when  farthest  thrones  shall  hear; 
****** 

The  Pilgrims'  Vision  is  accomplished  here! 

J.  J.  Roche,  Life  of  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  (N.  Y.,   1891),  397-404. 


8  AMERICANISM 

NATURAL  RIGHTS  OF  MANKIND 
SAMUEL  ADAMS  (1772) 

ADVOCATE  OF  NATURAL  RIGHTS  OF  HUMAN  KIND,  ORGANIZER  OF 
AMERICAN  REVOLUTION,  GOVERNOR. 

It  is  the  greatest  absurdity  to  suppose  it  in  the  power  of  one 
or  any  number  of  men  at  the  entering  into  society,  to  renounce 
their  essential  natural  rights,  or  the  means  of  preserving  those 
rights  when  the  great  end  of  civil  government  from  the  very 
nature  of  its  institution  is  for  the  support,  protection  and  de- 
fence of  those  very  rights;  the  principle  of  which  as  is  before 
observed,  are  life,  liberty  and  property.  If  men  through  fear, 
fraud,  or  mistake,  should  in  terms  renounce  and  give  up  any  es- 
sential natural  right,  society  would  absolutely  vacate  such  re- 
nunciation; the  right  to  freedom  being  the  gift  of  God  Almighty, 
it  is  not  in  the  power  of  Man  to  alienate  this  gift,  and  volun- 
tarily become  a  slave. 

Samuel  Adams,   Writings.  355   (N.  Y.,   1901). 


THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 
PREAMBLE  (1776) 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  1800-1808 

When  in  the  Course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary 
for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  con- 
nected them  with  another,  and  to  assume  among  the  powers  of 
the  earth,  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  Laws  of 
Nature  and  Nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect  to  the 
opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes 
which  impel  them  to  the  separation.  We  hold  these  truths  to  be 
self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  Rights,  that 
among  these  are  Life,  Liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  Happiness. — 
That  to  secure  these  rights,  Governments  are  instituted  among 
Men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  gov- 


AMERICANISM  9 

erned, — That  whenever  any  Form  of  Government  becomes  de- 
structive of  these  ends,  it  is  the  Right  of  the  People  to  alter  or 
to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  Government,  laying  its  founda- 
tions on  such  principles  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form, 
as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  Safety  and  Hap- 
piness. Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  Governments  long 
established  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes ; 
and  accordingly  all  experience  hath  shewn,  that  mankind  are 
more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  tfian  to  right 
themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they  are  accus- 
tomed. But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pur- 
suing invariably  the  same  Object  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them 
under  absolute  Despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to 
throw  off  such  Government,  and  to  provide  new  Guards  for  their 
future  security. 

Charles    Sumner,    Works    (Boston,    1874),   V.    251-252. 


PRINCIPLES    OF    AMERICAN    GOVERNMENT 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

About  to  enter,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  exercise.^of  duties 
which  comprehend  everything  dear  and  valuable  to  you,  it  is 
proper  you  should  understand  what  I  deem  the  essential  princi- 
ples of  our  government,  and  consequently  those  which  ought  to 
shape  its  administration.  I  will  compress  them  within  the  nar- 
rowest compass  they  will  bear,  stating  the  general  principle  but 
not  all  its  limitations : 

Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever  state  or  per- 
suasion, religious  or  political : 

Peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friendship  with  all  nations,  en- 
tangling alliances  with  none: 

The  support  of  the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights,  as 
the  most  competent  administrations  for  our  domestic  concerns, 
and  the  surest  bulwarks  against  anti-republican  tendencies : 

The  preservation  of  the  general  government  in  its  whole  con- 
stitutional vigor,  as  the  sheet  anchor  of  our  peace  at  home,  and 
safety  abroad : 


io  AMERICANISM 

A  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election  by  the  people,  a  mild 
and  safe  corrective  of  abuses  which  are  lopped  by  the  sword  of 
revolution  where  peaceable  remedies  are  unprovided: 

Absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority,  the 
vital  principles  of  republics,  from  which  is  no  appeal  but  to  force, 
the  vital  principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despotism : 

A  well  disciplined  militia,  our  best  reliance  in  peace  and  for 
the  first  moments  of  war  until  regulars  may  relieve  them : 

The  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority : 

Economy  in  the  public  expense,  that  labor  may  be  lightly  bur- 
dened : 

The  honest  payment  of  our  debts  and  sacred  preservation  of 
the  public  faith: 

Encouragement  of  agriculture  and  of  commerce  as  its  hand- 
maid: 

The  diffusion  of  information  and  arraignment  of  all  abuses 
at  the  bar  of  public  reason: 

Freedom  of  religion : 
Freedom  of  the  press : 

And  freedom  of  person  under  the  protection  of  the  Habeas 
Corpus,  and  trial  by  juries  impartially  selected. 

These  principles  form  the  bright  constellation  which  has  gone 
before  us,  and  guided  our  steps  through  the  age  of  revolution 
and  reformation.  The  wisdom  of  our  sages,  and  blood  of  our 
heroes  have  been  devoted  to  their  attainment.  They  should  be 
the  creed  of  our  political  faith,  the  text  of  civic  instruction,  the 
touchstone  by  which  to  try  the  services  of  those  we  trust,  and 
should  we  wander  from  them  in  moments  of  error  or  alarm,  let 
us  hasten  to  retrace  our  steps  and  to  regain  the  road  which  alone 
leads  to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety. 

McLaughlin,  Readings  in  American  History,  no-n,  New  York,  1914. 


AMERICANISM  n 


MEANING  OF  THE  DECLARATION  OF 
INDEPENDENCE    (1858-1859) 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  1860-1865 

I  think  the  authors  of  that  notable  instrument  (Declaration 
of  Independence)  intended  to  include  all  men;  but  they  did  not 
intend  to  declare  all  men  equal  in  all  respects.  They  did  not 
mean  to  say  all  were  equal  in  color,  size,  intellect,  moral  develop- 
ment, or  social  capacity.  They  defined  with  tolerable  distinctness 
in  what  respects  they  did  consider  all  men  created  equal — equal 
with  "certain  unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  This  they  said,  and  this  they 

meant They  meant  to  set  up  a  standard  maxim  for  free 

society,  which  should  be  familiar  to  all,  and  revered  by  all ;  con- 
stantly looked  to,  constantly  labored  for,  and  even  though  never 
perfectly  attained,  constantly  approximated,  and  thereby  con- 
stantly spreading  and  deepening  its  influence  and  augmenting 
the  happiness  and  value  of  life  to  all  people  of  all  colors  every- 
where. The  assertion  that  "all  men  are  created  equal"  was  of  no 
practical  use  in  effecting  our  separation  from  Great  Britain;  and 
it  was  placed  in  the  Declaration,  not  for  that  but  for  future  use. 
Its  authors  meant  it  to  be,  as  thank  God,  it  is  now  proving  itself, 
a  stumbling-block  to  all  those  who  in  after  times  might  seek  to 
turn  a  free  people  back  into  the  hateful  paths  of  despotism.  They 
know  the  proneness  of  prosperity  to  breed  tyrants,  and  they 
meant  when  such  should  reappear  in  this  fair  land  and  com- 
mence their  vocation,  they  should  find  left  for  them  at  least  one 
hard  nut  to  crack. 

It  is  now  no  child's  play  to  save  the  principles  of  Jefferson 
from  total  overthrow  in  this  nation.  One  would  state  with  great 
confidence  that  he  could  convince  any  sane  child  that  the  simpler 
propositions  of  Euclid  are  true;  but  nevertheless  he  would  fail, 
utterly,  with  one  who  should  deny  the  definitions  and  axioms. 
The  principles  of  Jefferson  are  the  definitions  and  axioms  of 
free  society.  And  yet  they  are  denied  and  evaded,  with  no  small 
show  of  success.  One  dashingly  calls  them  "glittering  gener- 
alities." Another  bluntly  calls  them  "self-evident  lies."  And 
others  insidiously  argue  that  they  apply  only  to  "superior  races." 


12  AMERICANISM 

These  expressions,  differing  in  form,  are  identical  in  object  and 
effect— the  supplanting  the  principles  of  free  government,  and 
restoring  those  of  classification,  caste  and  legitimacy.  They 
would  delight  a  convocation  of  crowned  heads  plotting  against 
the  people.  They  are  the  van-guard — the  miners  and  sappers  of 
returning  despotism.  We  must  repulse  them,  or  they  will  subju- 
gate us.  This  is  a  world  of  compensation ;  and  he  who  would 
be  no  slave  must  consent  to  have  no  slave.  Those  who  deny 
freedom  to  others  deserve  it  not  for  themselves;  and  under  a 
just  God,  cannot  long  retain  it.  All  honor  to  Jefferson — to  the 
man  who,  in  the  concrete  pressure  of  a  struggle  for  national 
independence  by  a  single  people,  had  the  coolness,  forecast,  and 
capacity  to  introduce  into  a  merely  revolutionary  document  an 
abstract  truth,  applicable  to  all  men  and  all  times,  and  so  to  em- 
balm it  there  that  to-day  and  in  all  coming  days  it  shall  be  a 
rebuke  and  a  stumbling-block  to  the  very  harbingers  of  reappear- 
ing tyranny  and  oppression. 

Nicolay  &  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln:  A  History.  2:87-183:   (N.  Y.,   1890). 


MASSACHUSETTS   DECLARATION   OF  RIGHTS 

(1780) 

SIMILAR    DECLARATIONS    OF    RIGHTS    WERE    MADE    BY    OTHER    STATES, 

NOTABLY   VIRGINIA,    CONNECTICUT   AND   THE   ORDINANCE   OF    1787 

FOR  THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  ARE  THE  BASES  OF 

AMERICAN   GOVERNMENT 

The  end  of  the  institution,  maintenance,  and  administration 
of  government,  is  to  secure  the  existence  of  the  body  politic,  to 
protect  it,  and  to  furnish  the  individuals  who  compose  it  with 
the  power  of  enjoying  in  safety  and  tranquillity  their  natural 
rights,  and  the  blessings  of  life;  and  whenever  these  great  ob- 
jects are  not  obtained  the  people  have  a  right  to  alter  the  govern- 
ment, and  to  take  measures  necessary  for  their  safety,  prosperity, 
and  happiness. 

The  body  politic  is  formed  by  a  voluntary  association  of  in- 
dividuals: it  is  a  social  compact,  by  which  the  whole  people 
covenants  with  each  citizen,  and  each  citizen  with  the  whole  peo- 
ple, that  all  shall  be  governed  by  certain  laws  for  the  common 
good.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  people,  therefore,  in  framing  a  con- 


AMERICANISM  13 

stitution  of  government,  to  provide  for  an  equitable  mode  of 
making  laws,  as  well  as  an  impartial  interpretation  and  a  faith- 
ful execution  of  them;  that  every  man  may,  at  all  times,  find 
his  security  in  them. 

We,  therefore,  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  acknowledging, 
with  grateful  hearts,  the  goodness  of  the  great  Legislator  of  the 
universe,  in  affording  us,  in  the  course  of  His  providence,  an 
opportunity,  deliberately  and  peaceably,  without  fraud,  violence, 
or  surprise,  of  entering  into  an  original,  explicit,  and  solemn 
compact  with  each  other;  and  of  forming  a  new  constitution  of 
civil  government,  for  ourselves  and  posterity ;  and  devoutly  im- 
ploring his  direction  in  so  interesting  a  design,  do  agree  upon, 
ordain  and  establish,  the  following  Declaration  of  Rights,  and 
Frame  of  Government,  as  the  Constitution  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts. 

Article  I.  All  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  have  certain 
natural,  essential  and  unalienable  rights;  among  which  may  be 
reckoned  the  right  of  enjoying  and  defending  their  lives  and 
liberties;  that  of  acquiring,  possessing,  and  protecting  property; 
in  fine,  that  of  seeking  and  obtaining  their  safety  and  happiness. 

II.  It  is  the  right  as  well  as  the  duty  of  all  men  in  society, 
publicly,  and  at  stated  seasons,  to  worship  the  Supreme  Being, 
the  great  Creator  and  Preserver  of  the  Universe.    And  no  sub- 
ject shall  be  hurt,  molested  or  restrained,  in  his  person,  liberty 
or  estate,  for  worshipping  God  in  the  manner  and  season  most 
agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience ;  or  for  his  re- 
ligious profession  of  sentiments;  provided  he  doth  not  disturb 
the  public  peace,  or  obstruct  others  in  their  religious  worship. 

III.  As  the  happiness  of  a  people,  and  the  good  order  and 
preservation  of  civil  government,  essentially  depend  upon  piety, 
religion,  and  morality;  and  as  these  cannot  be  generally  diffused 
through  a  community  but  by  the  institution  of  the  public  worship 
of  God,  and  of  public  instructions  in  piety,  religion,  and  morality : 
Therefore,  to  promote  their  happiness,  and  to  secure  the  good 
order  and  preservation  of  their  government,  the  people  of  this 
commonwealth  have  a  right  to  invest  their  legislature  with  power 
to  authorize  and  require,  and  the  legislature  shall,  from  time  to 
time,  authorize  and  require,  the  several  towns,  parishes,  precincts, 
and  other  bodies  politic,  or  religious  societies,  to  make  suitable 
provisions,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the  institution  of  the  public 
worship  of  God,  and  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  public 


14  AMERICANISM 

Protestant  teachers  of  piety,  religion,  and  morality,  in  all  cases 
where  such  provision  shall  not  be  made  voluntarily. 

And  the  people  of  this  commonwealth  have  also  a  right  to, 
and  do,  invest  their  legislature  with  authority  to  enjoin  upon  all 
the  subjects  an  attendance  upon  the  instructions  of  the  public 
teachers  aforesaid,  at  stated  times  and  seasons,  if  there  be  any  on 
whose  instructions  they  can  conscientiously  and  conveniently  at- 
tend. 

Provided,  notwithstanding,  that  the  several  towns,  parishes, 
precincts,  and  other  bodies  politic,  or  religious  societies,  shall,  at 
all  times,  have  the  exclusive  right  of  electing  their  public  teach- 
ers, and  of  contracting  with  them  for  their  support  and  main- 
tenance. 

And  all  moneys  paid  by  the  subject  to  the  support  of  public 
worship,  and  of  the  public  teachers  aforesaid,  shall,  if  he  re- 
quire it,  be  uniformly  applied  to  the  support  of  the  public  teacher 
or  teachers  of  his  own  religious  sect  or  denomination,  provided 
there  be  any  on  whose  instructions  he  attends ;  otherwise  it 
may  be  paid  toward  the  support  of  the  teacher  or  teachers  of  the 
parish  or  precinct  in  which  the  said  moneys  are  raised. 

And  every  denomination  of  Christians,  demeaning  themselves 
peaceably,  and  as  good  subjects  of  the  commonwealth,  shall  be 
equally  under  the  protection  of  the  law :  and  no  subordination  of 
any  one  sect  or  denomination  to  another  shall  ever  be  established 
by  law. 

IV.  The  people  of  this  commonwealth  have  the  sole  and  ex- 
clusive right  of  governing  themselves,  as  a  free,  sovereign,  and 
independent  state;  and  do,  and  forever  hereafter  shall,  exercise 
and  enjoy  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not,  or 
may  not  hereafter  be,  by  them  expressly  delegated  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled. 

V.  All  power  residing  originally  in  the  people,  and  being 
derived  from  them,  the  several  magistrates  and  officers  of  gov- 
ernment,  vested  with  authority,  whether  legislative,  executive  or 
judicial,  are  their  substitutes  and  agents,  and  are  at  all  times  ac- 
countable to  them. 

VI.  No  man,  nor  corporation,  or  association  of  men,    have 
any  other  title  to  obtain  advantages,  or  particular  and  exclusive 
privileges,    distinct    from   those   of   the    community,    than    what 
arises  from  the  consideration  o£  services  rendered  to  the  public ; 


AMERICANISM  15 

and  this  title  being  in  nature  neither  hereditary,  nor  transmis- 
sible to  children,  or  descendants,  or  relations  by  blood,  the  idea 
of  a  man  born  a  magistrate,  law-giver,  or  judge,  is  absurd  and 
unnatural. 

VII.  Government  is  instituted   for  the  common  good;   for 
the  protection,  safety,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  the*  people ; 
and  not  for  the  profit,  honor,  or  private  interest  of  any  one  man, 
family,  or  class  of  men :    Therefore  the  people  alone  have  an  in- 
contestable,    unalienable,     and    indefeasible    right    to    institute 
government;  and  to  reform,  alter,  or  totally  change  the  same, 
when  their  protection,  safety,  prosperity,  and  happiness  require  it. 

VIII.  In  order  to  prevent  those  who  are  vested  with   au- 
thority from  becoming  oppressors,  the  people  have  a  right,  at 
such  periods  and  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  establish  by  their 
frame  of  government,  to  cause  their  public  officers  to  return  to 
private  life;  and  to  fill  up  vacant  places  by  certain  regular  elec- 
tions and  appointments. 

IX.  All  elections  ought  to  be  free ;  and  all  the  inhabitants  of 
this  commonwealth,  having  such  qualifications  as  they  shall  es- 
tablish by  their  frame  of  government,  have  an  equal  right  to 
elect  officers,  and  to  be  elected,  for  public  employments. 

X.  Each  individual  of  the  society  has  a  right  to  be  pro- 
tected by  it  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  life,  liberty,  and  property, 
according  to  standing  laws.    He  is  obliged,  consequently,  to  con- 
tribute his  share  to  the  expense  of  this  protection;  to  give  his 
personal  service,  or  an  equivalent,  when  necessary:  but  no  part 
of  the  property  of  any  individual  can,  with  justice,  be  taken  from 
him,  or  applied  to  public  uses,  without  his  own  consent,  or  that 
of  the  representative  body  of  the  people.     In  fine,  the  people  of 
this  commonwealth,  are  not  controllable  by  any  other  laws  than 
those  to  which  their  constitutional  representative  body  have  given 
their  consent.     And  whenever  the  public  exigencies  require  that 
the  property  of  any  individual  should  be  appropriated  to  public 
uses,  he  shall  receive  a  reasonable  compensation  therefor. 

XI.  Every  subject  of  the  commonwealth  ought  to  find  a  cer- 
tain remedy,  by  having  recourse  to  the  laws,  for  all  injuries  or 
wrongs  which  he  may  receive  in  his  person,  property,  or  char- 
acter.    He  ought  to  obtain  right  and  justice  freely,  and  without 


16  AMERICANISM 

being  obliged  to  purchase  it ;  completely,  and  without  any  denial ; 
promptly,  and  without  any  delay;  conformably  to  the  laws. 

XII.  No  subject  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  any  crimes  or 
offence,  until  the  same  is  fully  and  plainly,  substantially  and  for- 
mally, described  to  him;  or  be  compelled  to  accuse,  or  furnish 
evidence  against  himself.     And  every  subject  shall  have  a  right 
to  produce  all  proofs  that  may  be  favorable  to  him;  to  meet  the 
witnesses  against  him  face  to  face,  and  to  be  fully  heard  in  his 
defence  by  himself,  or  his  counsel  at  his  election.    And  no  sub- 
ject shall  be  arrested,  imprisoned,  despoiled,  or  deprived  of  his 
property,  immunities,  or  privileges,  put  out  of  the  protection  of 
the  law,  exiled,  or  deprived  of  his  life,  liberty,  or  estate,  but  by 
the  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  the  law  of  the  land. 

And  the  legislature  shall  not  make  any  law  that  shall  subject 
any  person  to  a  capital  or  infamous  punishment,  excepting  for 
the  government  of  the  army  and  navy,  without  trial  by  jury. 

XIII.  In  criminal  prosecutions,  the  verification  of  facts,  in 
the  vicinity  where  they  happen,  is  one  of  the  greatest  securities 
of  the  life,  liberty  and  property  of  the  citizen. 

XIV.  Every  subject  has  a  right  to  be  secure  from  all  un- 
reasonable searches,  and  seizures,  of  his  person,  his  houses,  his 
papers,  and  all  his  possessions.    All  warrants,  therefore,  are  con- 
trary to  this  right,  if  the  cause  or  foundation  of  them  be  not  pre- 
viously supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  if  the  order  in  the 
warrant  to  a  civil  officer,  to  make  search  in  suspected  places,  or 
to  arrest  one  or  more  suspected  persons,  or  to  seize  their  prop- 
erty, be  not  accompanied  with  a  special  designation  of  the  per- 
sons or  objects  of  search,  arrest,  or  seizure;    and  no  warrant 
ought  to  be  issued  but  in  cases,  with  the  formalities  prescribed 
by  the  laws. 

XV.  In  all  controversies  concerning  property,  and  in  all  suits 
between  two  or  more  persons,  except  in  cases  in  which   it  has 
heretofore  been  otherwa}rs  used  and  practised,  the  parties  have  a 
right  to  a  trial  by  jury;  and  this  method  of  procedure  shall  be 
held  sacred,  unless  in  causes  arising  on  the  high  seas,  and  such 
as  relate  to  mariners'  wages,  the  legislature  shall  hereafter  find 
it  necessary  to  alter  it. 

XVI.  The  liberty  of  the  press  is  essential  to  the  security  of 
freedom  in  a  state;    it  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  restricted  in 
this  commonwealth. 


AMERICANISM  17 

XVII.  The  people  have  a  right  to  keep  and  bear  arms  for 
the  common  defence.     And  as,  in  time    of  peace,    armies  are 
dangerous  to  liberty,  they  ought  not  to  be  maintained  without 
the  consent  of  the  legislature;    and  the  military  power  shall  al- 
ways be  held  in  exact  subordination  to  the  civil  authority,  and  be 
governed  by  it. 

XVIII.  A  frequent  recurrence  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  constitution,  and  a  constant  adherence  to  those  of  piety, 
justice,  moderation,  temperance,  industry,  and  frugality,  are  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  preserve  the  advantages  of  liberty,  and  to 
maintain  a  free  government.    The  people  ought,  consequently,  to 
have  a  particular  attention  to  all  those  principles,  in  the  choice 
of  their  officers  and  representatives :  and  they  have  a  right  to  re- 
quire of  their  lawgivers  and  magistrates  an  exact  and  constant 
observance  of  them,  in  the  formation  and  execution  of  the  laws 
necessary  for  the  good  administration  of  the  commonwealth. 

XIX.  The  people  have  a  right,  in  an  orderly  and  peaceable 
manner,  to  assemble  to  consult  upon  the  common  good;  give  in- 
structions to  their  representatives,  and  to  request  of  the  legisla- 
tive body,  by  the  way  of  addresses,  petitions,  or  remonstrances, 
redress  of  the  wrongs  done  them,  and  of  the  grievances  they 
suffer. 

XX.  The  power  of  suspending  the  laws,  or  the  execution  of 
the  laws,  ought  never  to  be  exercised  but  by  the  legislature,  or  by 
authority  derived  from  it,  to  be  exercised  in  such  particular  cases 
only  as  the  legislature  shall  expressly  provide  for. 

XXI.  The  freedom  of   deliberation,  speech,  and  debate,  in 
either  house  of  the  legislature,  is  so  essential  to  the  rights  of  the 
people,  that  it  cannot  be  the  foundation  of  any  accusation  or 
prosecution,  action  or  complaint,  in  any  other    court    or    place 
whatsoever. 

XXII.  The  legislature  ought  frequently  to  assemble  for  the 
redress   of   grievances,   for  correcting,   strengthening,   and   con- 
firming the  laws,  and  for  making  new  laws,  as  the  common  good 
may  require. 

XXIII.  No  subsidy  charge,  tax,  impost,  or  duties  ought  to  be 
established,  fixed,  laid,  or  levied,  under  any  pretext  whatsoever, 
without  the  consent  of  the  people  or  their  representatives  in  the 
legislature. 


i8  AMERICANISM 

XXIV.  Laws  made  to  punish  for  actions  done  before  the  ex- 
istence  of   such   laws,   are  unjust,   oppressive,   and  inconsistent 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  free  government. 

XXV.  No  subject  ought,  in  any  case,  or  in  any  time,  to  be 
declared  guilty  of  treason  or  felony  by  the  legislature. 

XXVI.  No  magistrate  or  court  of  law  shall  demand  exces- 
sive bail  or  sureties,  impose  excessive  fines,  or  inflict  cruel  or 
unusual  punishments. 

XXVII.  In  time  of  peace,  no  soldier  ought  to  be  quartered 
in  any  house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner;    and  in  time  of 
war,  such  quarters  ought  to  be  made  but  by  the  civil  magistrate, 
in  a  manner  ordained  by  the  legislature. 

XXVIII.  No  person  can  in  any  case  be  subject  to  law-mar- 
tial, or  to  any  penalties  or  pains,  by  virtue  of  that  law,  except 
those  employed  in  the  army  or  navy,  and  except  the  militia  in 
actual  service,  but  by  authority  of  the  legislature. 

XXIX.  It  is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of 
every  individual,  his  life,  liberty,  property,  and  character,  that 
there  be  an  impartial  interpretation  of  the  laws,  and  administra- 
tion of  the  laws,  and  administration  of  justice.     It  is  the  right 
of  every  citizen  to  be  tried  by  judges  as  free,  impartial,  and  in- 
dependent as  the  lot  of  humanity  will  admit.     It  is,  therefore, 
not  only  the  best  policy,  but  for  the  security  of  the  rights  of  the 
people,  and  every  citizen,  that  the  judges  of  the  supreme  judicial 
court  should  hold  their  offices  as  long  as  they  behave  themselves 
well;  and  that  they  should  have  honorable  salaries  ascertained 
and  established  by  standing  laws% 

XXX.  In  the  government  of  this  commonwealth,  the  legisla- 
tive department  shall  never  exercise  the  executive  and  judicial 
powers,  or  either  of  them :  the  executive  shall  never  exercise  the 
legislative  and  judicial  powers,  or  either  of  them:  the  judicial 
shall  never   exercise  the  legislative  and  executive    powers,    or 
either  of  them :  to  the  end  it  may  be  a  government  of  laws  and 
not  of  men. 

Thorpe.     Federal  and   State   Constitutions.     Vol.   Hi. 


AMERICANISM  19 


EQUALITY   BEFORE   THE   LAW   AS   THE 
BASIS   OF   HUMAN    RIGHTS    (1849) 

CHARLES  SUMNER 
SCHOLAR,   JURIST,  ORATOR,   UNITED  STATES   SENATOR,  DEFENDER  OF 

FREEDOM 

The  way  is  now  prepared  to  consider  the  nature  of  Equality, 
as  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts.  The  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  which  followed  the  French  Encyclopedia 
and  the  political  writings  of  Rousseau,  announces  among  self- 
evident  truths,  "that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights;  that 
among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  The 
Constitution  of  Massachusetts  repeats  the  same  truth  in  a  differ- 
ent form,  saying,  in  its  first  article :  "All  men  are  born  free  and 
equal,  and  have  certain  natural,  essential,  and  unalienable  rights, 
among  which  may  be  reckoned  the  right  of  enjoying  and  defend- 
ing their  lives  and  liberties."  Another  article  explains  what  is 
meant  by  Equality,  saying:  "No  man,  nor  corporation,  or  asso- 
ciation of  men,  have  any  other  title  to  obtain  advantages,  or  par- 
ticular and  exclusive  privileges,  distinct  from  those  of  the  com- 
munity, than  what  arises  from  the  consideration  of  services 
rendered  to  the  public;  and  this  title  being  in  nature  neither 
hereditary,  nor  transmissible  to  children,  or  descendants,  or  rela- 
tions by  blood,  the  idea  of  a  man  being  born  a  magistrate,  law- 
giver, or  judge,  is  absurd  and  unnatural."  This  language,  in  its 
natural  signification,  condemns  every  form  of  inequality  in  civil 
and  political  institutions. 

These  declarations,  though  in  point  of  time  before  the  ampler 
declarations  of  France,  may  be  construed  in  the  light  of  the 
latter.  Evidently,  they  seek  to  declare  the  same  principle.  They 
are  declarations  of  Rights;  and  the  language  employed,  though 
general  in  character,  is  obviously  limited  to  those  matters  within 
the  design  of  a  declaration  of  Rights.  And  permit  me  to  say, 
it  is  a  childish  sophism  to  adduce  any  physical  or  mental  in- 
equality in  argument  against  Equality  of  Rights. 

Obviously,  men  are  not  born  equal  in  physical  strength  or  in 
mental  capacity,  in  beauty  of  form,  or  health  of  body.  Diversity 
or  inequality  in  these  respects  is  the  law  of  creation.  From  this 


20  AMERICANISM 

difference  springs  divine  harmony.  But  this  inequality  is  in  no 
particular  inconsistent  with  complete  civil  and  political  equality. 
The  equality  declared  by  our  fathers  in  1776,  and  made  the 
fundamental  law  of  Massachusetts  in  1780,  was  Equality  before 
the  Law.  Its  object  was  to  efface  all  political  or  civil  distinctions, 
and  to  abolish  all  institutions  founded  upon  birth.  "All  men  are 
created  equal,"  says  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  These 
are  not  vain  words*  Within  the  sphere  of  their  influence,  no 
person  can  be  created,  no  person  can  be  born,  with  civil  or 
political  privileges  not  enjoyed  equally  by  all  his  fellow- citizens; 
nor  can  any  institution  be  established,  recognizing  distinction  of 
birth.  Here  is  the  Great  Charter  of  every  human  being  drawing 
vital  breath  upon  this  soil,  whatever  may  be  his  condition,  and 
whoever  may  be  his  parents.  He  may  be  poor,  humble,  or  black — 
he  may  be  of  Caucasian,  Jewish,  Indian,  or  Ethiopian  race — he 
may  be  of  French,  German,  English,  or  Irish  extraction ;  but  be- 
fore the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  all  these  distinctions  dis- 
appear. He  is  not  poor,  weak,  humble,  or  black ;  nor  is  he  Cau- 
casian, Jew,  Indian,  or  Ethiopian;  nor  is  he  French,  German, 
English,  or  Irish ;  he  is  a  MAN,  the  equal  of  all  his  fellow-men. 
He  is  one  of  the  children  of  the  state,  which,  like  an  impartial 
parent,  regards  all  its  offspring  with  an  equal  care.  To  some  it 
may  justly  allot  higher  duties,  according  to  higher  capacities;  but 
it  welcomes  all  to  its  equal  hospitable  board. 

Works,   II,    340-342.      (Boston,    1875.) 


LIMITS    TO    POPULAR    SOVEREIGNTY    (1860) 
CHARLES  SUMNER 

All  hail  to  Popular  Sovereignty  in  its  true  glory!  This  is  the 
grand  principle,  first  announced  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, which  is  destined  to  regenerate  the  world.  It  is  em- 
bodied in  those  famous  words,  adopted  by  the  Republican  Con- 
vention at  Chicago,  that  among  the  unalienable  rights  of  all  men 
are  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  and  that  "to  se- 
cure these  rights  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriv- 
ing their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  These 
are  sacred  words,  full  of  life-giving  energy.  Not  simply  national 


AMERICANISM  21 

independence  was  here  proclaimed,  but  also  the  primal  rights  of 
all  mankind.  Then  and  there  appeared  the  Angel  of  Human 
Liberation,  speaking  and  acting  at  once  with  heaven-born 
strength — breaking  bolts,  unloosing  bonds,  and  opening  prison- 
doors — always  ranging  on  its  mighty  errand,  wherever  there  are 
any,  no  matter  of  what  country  or  race,  who  struggle  for  rights 
denied — now  cheering  Garibaldi  at  Naples  as  it  had  cheered 
Washington  in  the  snows  of  Valley  Forge — and  especially  visit- 
ing all  who  are  down-trodden  whispering  that  there  is  none  so 
poor  as  to  be  without  rights  which  every  man  is  bound  to  re- 
spect. 

But  the  great  Declaration,  not  content  with  announcing  cer- 
tain rights  as  unalienable,  and  therefore  beyond  the  control  of 
any  government,  still  further  restrains  the  sovereignty  which  it 
asserts,  by  simply  declaring  that  the  United  States  have  "full 
power  to  do  all  acts  and  things  which  independent  states  may 
OF  RIGHT  do."  Here  is  a  well-defined  limitation  upon  Popu- 
lar Sovereignty.  The  dogma  of  Tory  lawyer  and  pamphleteers 
— put  forward  to  sustain  the  claim  of  Parliamentary  omnipo- 
tence, and  vehemently  espoused  by  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  "Taxation 
no  Tyranny" — was,  openly,  that  sovereignty  is  in  its  nature  il- 
limitable, precisely  as  is  now  loosely  professed  by  Mr.  Douglas 
for  his  handful  of  squatters.  But  this  dogma  is  distinctly  dis- 
carded in  the  Declaration,  and  it  is  frankly  proclaimed  that  all 
sovereignty  is  subordinate  to  the  rule  of  Right.  Mark,  now,  the 
difference.  All  existing  governments  at  that  time,  even  the  local 
governments  of  the  Colonies,  stood  on  Pozver,  without  limitation. 
Here  was  a  new  government,  which,  taking  its  place  among  the 
nations,  announced  that  it  stood  only  on  Right  and  claimed  no 
sovereignty  inconsistent  with  Right.  Such,  again,  is  the  Popular 
Sovereignty  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Works  (Boston,   1874),  V.   251-252. 


22  AMERICANISM 


HIS    LAST    PROTEST    AGAINST    SLAVERY 
(1859) 

JOHN  BROWN 
AMERICAN,  FARMER,  SEEKER  FOR  JUSTICE,  LIBERATOR 

This  court  acknowledges,  as  I  suppose,  the  validity  of  the  Law 
of  God.  I  see  a  book  kissed  here  which  I  suppose  to  be  the 
Bible,  or  at  least,  the  New  Testament.  That  teaches  me  that  all 
things  "whatsoever  I  would  that  men  should  do  unto  me  I  should 
do  even  so  to  them."  It  teaches  me  further,  to  "remember  them 
that  are  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them."  I  endeavored  to  act  up 
to  that  instruction.  I  say,  I  am  yet  too  young  to  understand  that 
God  is  any  respecter  of  persons.  I  believe  that  to  have  interfered 
as  I  have  done,  as  I  have  always  freely  admitted  I  have  done,  in 
behalf  of  HIS  despised  poor,  was  not  wrong,  but  right.  Now, 
if  it  is  deemed  necessary  that  I  should  forfeit  my  life  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  ends  of  justice,  and  mingle  my  blood  further 
with  the  blood  of  my  children,  and  with  the  blood  of  millions  in 
this  slave  country  whose  rights  are  disregarded  by  wicked,  cruel, 
and  unjust  enactments — I  submit:  so  let  it  be  done. 

James  Redpath,  The  Public  Life  of  Captain  John  Brown,  p.  341.  Boston. 
1860. 


AMERICANISM  23 

ADDRESS   DELIVERED  AT   THE  DEDICATION 

OF    THE    CEMETERY    AT    GETTYSBURG, 

(NOVEMBER    19,    1863) 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
PRESIDENT.    i860  TO  1865.    LIBERATOR 

Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on 
this  continent,  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedicated 
to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war;  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long 
endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We 
have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field,  as  a  final  resting 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might 
live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — we  can  not  conse- 
crate— we  can  not  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated  it,  far  above  our 
poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor 
long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what 
they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here 
to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus 
far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated 
to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us — that  from  these  honored 
dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they 
gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion — that  we  here  highly  re- 
solve that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain — that  this  na- 
tion under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom — and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth. 


34  AMERICANISM 

THE  LAND  WHERE  HATE  SHOULD  DIE 
DENIS  A.  MCCARTHY 

This  is  the  land  where  hate  should  die — 

No  feuds  of  faith,  no  spleen  of  race, 
No  darkly  brooding  fear  should  try 

Beneath  our  flag  to  find  a  place. 
Lo !    every  people  here  has  sent 

Its  sons  to  answer  freedom's  call; 
Their  lifeblood  is  the  strong  cement 

That  builds  and  binds  the  nation's  wall. 

This  is  the  land  where  hate  should  die — 

Though  dear  to  me  my  faith  and  shrine, 
I  serve  my  country  well  when  I 

Respect  the  creeds  that  are  not  mine. 
He  little  loves  the  land  who'd  cast 

Upon  his  neighbor's  word  a  doubt, 
Or  cite  the  wrongs  of  ages  past 

From  present  rights  to  bar  him  out. 

This  is  the  land  where  hate  should  die — 

This  is  the  land  where  strife  should  cease, 
Where  foul,  suspicious  fear  should  fly 

Before  the  light  of  love  and  peace. 
Then  let  us  purge  from  poisoned  thought 

That  service  to  the  state  we  give, 
And  so  be  worthy  as  we  ought 

Of  this  great  land  in  which  we  live ! 

Heart    Songs    and    Home    Songs,    p.    21,    Boston.      Little,    Brown    and 
Company,   1916. 


AMERICANISM  25 


AN   IMMIGRANT'S  IMPRESSION  OF  AMERICA 

(1852) 

CARL  SCHURZ 

GERMAN  IMMIGRANT,  GENERAL,  DIPLOMAT,  SENATOR,  SECRETARY  OF 
THE  INTERIOR 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  first  sight  of  this  country  fills  one 
with  dumb  amazement.  Here  you  see  the  principle  of  individual 
freedom  carried  to  its  ultimate  consequences :  voluntarily  made 
laws  treated  with  contempt;  in  another  place  you  notice  the 
crassest  religious  fanaticism  venting  itself  in  brutal  acts ;  on  the 
one  hand  you  see  the  great  mass  of  the  laboring  people  in  com- 
plete freedom  striving  for  emancipation,  and  by  their  side  the 
speculative  spirit  of  capital  plunging  into  unheard  of  enterprises ; 
here  is  a  party  that  calls  itself  Democratic  and  is  at  the  same 
time  the  mainstay  of  the  institution  of  slavery;  there  another 
party  thunders  against  slavery  but  bases  all  its  arguments  on  the 
authority  of  the  Bible  and  mentally  is  incredibly  abject  in  its 
dependence — at  one  time  it  displays  an  impetuous  impulse  for 
emancipation,  while  at  another  it  has  an  active  lust  for  oppres- 
sion— all  these  in  complete  liberty,  moving  in  a  confused  tumult, 
one  with  the  other,  one  by  the  side  of  the  other.  The  democrat 
just  arrived  from  Europe,  who  has  so  far  lived  in  a  world  of 
ideas  and  has  had  no  opportunity  to  see  these  ideas  put  into 
actual,  sound  practice,  will  ask  himself,  hesitatingly:  Is  this,  in- 
deed, a  free  people?  Is  this  a  real  democracy?  Is  democracy  a 
fact  if  it  shelters  under  one  cloak  such  conflicting  principles?  Is 
this  my  ideal?  Thus  he  will  doubtingly  question  himself,  as  he 
steps  into  this  new,  really  new  world.  .  .  . 

Yes,  this  is  humanity  when  it  is  free.  Liberty  breaks  the 
chain  of  development.  All  strength,  all  weakness,  all  that  is 
good,  all  that  is  bad,  is  here  in  full  view  and  in  free  activity. 
The  struggle  of  principles  goes  on  unimpeded ;  outward  before 
wre  can  gain  inner  freedom.  He  who  wishes  liberty  must  not  be 
surprised  if  men  do  not  appear  better  than  they  are.  Freedom 
is  the  only  state  in  which  it  is  possible  for  men  to  learn  to  know 
themselves,  in  w^hich  they  show  themselves  as  they  really  are.  It 
is  true,  the  ideal  is  not  necessarily  evolved,  but  it  would  be  an 
unhappy  thought  to  force  the  ideal  in  spite  of  humanity.  .  .  . 


26  AMERICANISM 

Every  glance  into  the  political  life  of  America  strengthens  my 
convictions  that  the  aim  of  a  revolution  can  be  nothing  else  than 
to  make  room  for  the  will  of  the  people — in  other  words,  to 
break  every  authority  which  has  its  organization  in  the  life  of 
the  state,  and,  as  far  as  is  possible,  to  overturn  the  barriers  to 
individual  liberty.  The  will  of  the  people  will  have  its  fling  and 
indulge  in  all  kinds  of  foolishness — but  that  is  its  way;  if  you 
want  to  show  it  the  way  and  then  give  it  liberty  of  action,  it  will, 
nevertheless,  commit  its  own  follies.  Each  one  of  these  follies 
clears  away  something,  while  the  wisest  thing  that  is  done  for 
the  people  accomplishes  nothing  until  the  popular  judgment  has 
progressed  far  enough  to  be  able  to  do  it  for  itself.  Until  then, 
conditions  must  stand  a  force  de  I'autorite,  or  they  will  totter. 
But  if  they  exist  by  the  force  of  authority,  then  democracy  is  in 
a  bad  way.  Here  in  America  you  can  every  day  see  how  slightly 
a  people  needs  to  be  governed.  In  fact,  the  thing  that  is  not 
named  in  Europe  without  a  shudder,  anarchy,  exists  here  in  full 
bloom.  Here  are  governments,  but  no  rules — governors,  but  they 
are  clerks.  ...  It  is  only  here  that  you  realize  how  super- 
fluous governments  are  in  many  affairs  in  which,  in  Europe,  they 
are  considered  entirely  indispensable,  and  how  the  possibility  of 
doing  something  inspires  a  desire  to  do  it. 

Carl   Schurz,    Writings.      1:5-8.      (N.   Y.,    1913.) 


WOMAN    IN    AMERICA    (1853) 

FREDRIKA  BREMER 

WRITER,  TRAVELLER,  REFORMER,  PHILANTHROPIST,  SWEDISH  MIS- 
SIONER  OF  AMERICANISM 

The  ideal  of  the  man  of  America  seems  to  me  to  be,  purity 
of  intention,  decision  in  will,  energy  in  action,  simplicity  and 
gentleness  in  manner  and  demeanor.  Hence  it  is  that  there  is 
something  tender  and  chivalric  in  his  behaviour  to  woman  which 
is  infinitely  becoming  to  him.  In  every  woman  he  respects  his 
own  mother. 

In  the  same  way  it  appeared  to  me  that  the  ideal  of  the 
woman  of  America,  of  the  woman  of  the  New  World,  is,  inde- 
pendence in  character,  gentleness  of  demeanor  and  manner. 


AMERICANISM  27 

The  American's  ideal  of  happiness  seems  to  me  to  be,  mar- 
riage and  a  home,  combined  with  public  activity.  To  have  a 
wife,  his  own  house  and  home,  his  own  little  piece  of  land;  to 
take  care  of  these,  and  to  beautify  them,  at  the  same  time  doing 
some  good  to  the  state  or  to  the  city — this  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
object  of  life  with  most  men;  a  journey  to  Europe  to  see  per- 
fected cities — and  ruins  belong  to  it — as  a  desirable  episode. 

Of  the  American  home  I  have  seen  enough  and  heard  enough 
for  me  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  women  have,  in  general,  all  the 
rule  there  which  they  wish  to  have.  Women  is  the  centre  and 
the  lawgiver  in  the  home  of  the  New  World,  and  the  American 
man  loves  that  it  should  be  so.  He  wishes  that  his  wife  should 
have  her  own  will  at  home,  and  he  loves  to  obey  it.  In  proof  of 
this,  I  have  heard  the  words  of  a  young  man  quoted:  "I  hope 
that  my  wife  will  have  her  own  will  in  the  house,  and  if  she  has 
not  I'll  make  her  have  it !  "  I  must,  however,  say,  that  in  the 
happy  homes  in  which  I  lived  I  saw  the  wife  equally  careful  to 
guide  herself  by  the  wishes  of  her  husband  as  he  was  to  indulge 
hers.  Affection  and  sound  reason  make  all  things  equal. 

The  educational  institutions  for  woman  are,  in  general,  most 
superior  to  those  of  Europe;  and  perhaps  the  most  important 
work  which  America  is  doing  for  the  tuture  of  humanity  con- 
sists in  her  treatment  and  education  of  woman. 

Woman's  increasing  value  as  a  teacher,  and  the  employment 
of  her  as  such  in  public  schools,  even  in  those  for  boys,  is  a 
public  fact  in  these  States  which  greatly  delights  me.  Sem- 
inaries have  been  established  to  educate  her  for  this  vocation.  I 
hope  to  be  able  to  visit  that  at  West  Newton,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Boston,  and  which  was  originated  by  Horace  Mann.  It 
even  seems  as  if  the  daughters  of  New  England  had  a  peculiar 
faculty  and  love  for  this  employment.  Young  girls  of  fortune 
devote  themselves  to  it.  The  daughters  of  poor  farmers  go  to 
work  in  the  manufactories  a  sufficient  time  to  earn  the  necessary 
sum  to  put  themselves  to  school,  and  thus  to  become  teachers  in 
due  course.  Whole  crowds  of  school-teachers  go  hence  to  the 
\Yestern  and  Southern  States,  where  schools  are  daily  being  es- 
tablished and  placed  under  their  direction.  The  young  daughters 
of  New  England  are  universally  commended  for  their  character 
and  ability.  Even  Waldo  Emerson,  who  does  not  easily  praise, 
spoke  in  commendation  of  them.  They  learn  in  the  schools  the 


28  AMERICANISM 

classics,  mathematics,  physics,  algebra,  with  great  ease,  and  pass 
their  examinations  like  young  men.  Not  long  since  a  young  lady 
in  Nantucket,  not  far  from  Boston,  distinguished  herself  in 
astronomy,  discovered  a  new  planet,  and  received,  in  conse- 
quence, a  medal  from  the  King  of  Prussia. 

Homes   of  the   New    World.      1:190-91.    New   York.    1853. 

*  Miss  Maria  Mitchell,  professor  of  astronomy  at  Vassar  College. 


ADDRESS    TO   THE   CITIZENSHIP 

CONVENTION 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  JULY  13,  IQl6 

WOODROW  WILSON 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

It  is  not  fair  to  the  great  multitudes  of  hopeful  men  and 
women  who  press  into  this  country  from  other  countries  that  we 
should  leave  them  without  that  friendly  and  intimate  instruction 
which  will  enable  them  very  soon  after  they  come  to  find  out 
what  America  is  like  at  heart  and  what  America  is  intended  for 
among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

I  believe  that  the  chief  school  that  these  people  must  attend 
after  they  get  here  is  the  school  which  all  of  us  attend,  which  is 
furnished  by  the  life  of  the  communities  in  which  we  live  and 
the  nation  to  which  we  belong.  It  has  been  a  very  touching 
thought  to  me  sometimes  to  think  of  the  hopes  which  have  drawn 
these  people  to  America.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  a  simple 
soul  has  been  thrilled  by  that  great  statue  standing  in  the  harbor 
of  New  York  and  seeming  to  lift  the  light  of  liberty  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  feet  of  men ;  and  I  can  imagine  that  they  have  ex- 
pected here  something  ideal  in  the  treatment  that  they  will  re- 
ceive, something  ideal  in  the  laws  which  they  would  have  to  live 
under,  and  it  has  caused  me  many  a  time  to  turn  upon  myself 
the  eye  of  examination  to  see  whether  there  burned  in  me  the 
true  light  of  the  American  spirit  which  they  expected  to  find 
here.  It  is  easy,  my  fellow-citizens,  to  communicate  physical 
lessons,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  communicate  spiritual  lessons. 
America  was  intended  to  be  a  spirit  among  the  nations  of  the 
\vorld,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  conferences  like  this  to  find  out 
the  best  way  to  introduce  the  newcomers  to  this  spirit,  and  by 


AMERICANISM  29 

that  very  interest  in  them  to  enhance  and  purify  in  ourselves 
the  thing  that  ought  to  make  America  great  and  not  only  ought 
to  make  her  great,  but  ought  to  make  her  exhibit  a  spirit  unlike 
any  other  nation  in  the  world. 

I  have  never  been  among  those  who  felt  comfortable  in  boast- 
ing of  the  superiority  of  America  over  other  countries.  The  way 
to  cure  yourself  of  that  is  to  travel  in  other  countries  and  find 
out  how  much  of  nobility  and  character  and  fine  enterprise  there 
is  everywhere  in  the  world.  The  most  that  America  can  hope 
to  do  is  to  show,  it  may  be,  the  finest  example,  not  the  only  ex- 
ample, of  the  things  that  ought  to  benefit  and  promote  the  prog- 
ress of  the  world. 

So  my  interest  in  this  movement  is  as  much  an  interest  in 
ourselves  as  in  those  whom  we  are  trying  to  Americanize,  be- 
cause if  we  are  genuine  Americans  they  cannot  avoid  the  infec- 
tion ;  whereas,  if  we  are  not  genuine  Americans,  there  will  be 
nothing  to  infect  them  with,  and  no  amount  of  teaching,  no 
amount  of  exposition  of  the  Constitution, — wrhich  I  find  very 
few  persons  understand, — no  amount  of  dwelling  upon  the  idea 
of  liberty  and  of  justice  will  accomplish  the  object  we  have  in 
view,  unless  we  ourselves  illustrate  the  idea  of  justice  and  of 
liberty.  My  interest  in  this  movement  is,  therefore,  a  two-fold 
interest.  I  believe  it  will  assist  us  to  become  self-conscious  in 
respect  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  American  life.  When  you 
ask  a  man  to  be  loyal  to  a  government,  if  he  comes  from  some 
foreign  countries,  his  idea  is  that  he  is  expected  to  be  loyal  to  a 
certain  set  of  persons  like  a  ruler  or  a  body  set  in  authority  over 
him,  but  that  is  not  the  American  idea.  Our  idea  is  that  he  is 
to  be  loyal  to  certain  objects  in  life,  and  that  the  only  reason  he 
has  a  President  and  a  Congress  and  a  Governor  and  a  State  Leg- 
islature and  courts  is  that  the  community  shall  have  instrumentali- 
ties by  which  to  promote  those  objects.  It  is  a  cooperative  or- 
ganization expressing  itself  in  this  Constitution,  expressing  itself 
in  these  laws,  intending  to  express  itself  in  the  exposition  of 
those  laws  by  the  courts ;  and  the  idea  of  America  is  not  so  much 
that  men  are  to  be  restrained  and  punished  by  the  law  as  in- 
structed and  guided  by  the  law.  That  is  the  reason  so  man}' 
hopeful  reforms  come  to  grief.  A  law  cannot  work  until  it  ex- 
presses the  spirit  of  the  community  for  which  it  is  enacted,  and 
if  you  try  to  enact  into  law  what  expresses  only  the  spirit  of  a 
small  coterie  or  of  a  small  minority,  you  know,  or  at  any  rate 


30  AMERICANISM 

you  ought  to  know,  beforehand  that  it  is  not  going  to  work.  The 
object  of  the  law  is  that  there,  written  upon  these  pages,  the 
citizen  should  read  the  record  of  the  experience  of  this  state  and 
nation;  what  they  have  concluded  it  is  necessary  for  them  to  do 
because  of  the  life  they  have  lived  and  the  things  that  they  have 
discovered  to  be  elements  in  that  life.  So  that  we  ought  to  be 
careful  to  maintain  a  government  at  which  the  immigrant  can 
look  with  the  closest  scrutiny  and  to  which  he  should  be  at  liberty 
to  address  this  question :  "You  declare  this  to  be  a  land  of  liberty 
and  of  equality  and  of  justice;  have  you  made  it  so  by  your  law?" 
We  ought  to  be  able  in  our  schools,  in  our  night  schools  and  in 
every  other  method  of  instructing  these  people,  to  show  them 
that  that  has  been  our  endeavor.  We  cannot  conceal  from  them 
long  the  fact  that  we  are  just  as  human  as  any  other  nation,  that 
we  are  just  as  selfish,  that  there  are  just  as  many  mean  people 
amongst  us  as  anywhere  else,  that  there  are  just  as  many  people 
here  who  want  to  take  advantage  of  other  people  as  you  can  find 
in  other  countries,  just  as  many  cruel  people,  just  as  many  people 
heartless  when  it  comes  to  maintaining  and  promoting  their  own 
interest;  but  you  can  show  that  our  object  is  to  get  these  people 
in  harness  and  see  to  it  that  they  do  not  do  any  damage  and  are 
not  allowed  to  indulge  the  passions  which  would  bring  injustice 
and  calamity  at  last  upon  a  nation  whose  object  is  spiritual  and 
not  material. 

America  has  built  up  a  great  body  of  wealth.  America  has 
become,  from  the  physical  point  of  view,  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful nations  in  the  world,  a  nation  which  if  it  took  the  pains  to  do 
so,  could  build  that  power  up  into  one  of  the  most  formidable 
instruments  in  the  world,  one  of  the  most  formidable  instru- 
ments of  force,  but  which  has  no  other  idea  than  to  use  its  force 
for  ideal  objects  and  not  for  self-aggrandizement. 

We  have  been  disturbed  recently,  my  fellow-citizens,  by  cer- 
tain symptoms  which  have  showed  themselves  in  our  body  politic. 
Certain  men — I  have  never  believed  a  great  number — born  in 
other  lands,  have  in  recent  months  thought  more  of  those  lands 
fV»an  they  have  of  the  honor  and  interest  of  the  government 
under  which  they  are  now  living.  They  have  even  gone  so  far 
as  to  draw  apart  in  spirit  and  in  organization  from  the  rest  of 
us  to  accomplish  some  special  object  of  their  own.  I  am  not  here 
going  to  utter  any  criticism  of  these  people,  but  I  want  to  say 
this,  that  such  a  thing  as  that  is  absolutely  incompatible  with  the 


AMERICANISM  31 

fundamental  idea  of  loyalty,  and  that  loyalty  is  not  a  self-pleasing 
virtue.  I  am  not  bound  to  be  loyal  to  the  United  States  to  please 
myself.  I  am  bound  to  be  loyal  to  the  United  States  because  I 
live  under  its  laws  and  am  its  citizen,  and  whether  it  hurts  me 
or  whether  it  benefits  me,  I  am  obliged  to  be  loyal.  Loyalty 
means  nothing  unless  it  has  at  its  heart  the  absolute  principle  of 
self-sacrifice.  Loyalty  means  that  you  ought  to  be  ready  to  sacri- 
fice every  interest  that  you  have,  and  your  life  itself,  if  your 
country  calls  upon  you  to  do  so,  and  that  is  the  sort  of  loyalty 
which  ought  to  be  inculcated  into  these  newcomers,  that  they  are 
not  to  be  loyal  only  so  long  as  they  are  pleased,  but  that,  having 
once  entered  into  this  sacred  relationship,  they  are  bound  to  be 
loyal  whether  they  are  pleased  or  not;  and  that  loyalty  which  is 
merely  self-pleasing  is  only  self-indulgence  and  selfishness.  No 
man  has  ever  risen  to  the  real  stature  of  spiritual  manhood  until 
he  has  found  that  it  is  finer  to  serve  somebody  else  than  it  is  to 
serve  himself. 

These  are  the  conceptions  which  we  ought  to  teach  the  new- 
comers into  our  midst,  and  we  ought  to  realize  that  the  life  of 
every  one  of  us  is  part  of  the  schooling,  and  that  we  cannot 
preach  loyalty  unless  we  set  the  example,  that  we  cannot  profess 
things  with  any  influence  upon  others  unless  we  practice  them 
also.  This  process  of  Americanization  is  going  to  be  a  process 
of  self-examination,  a  process  of  purification,  a  process  of  re- 
dedication  to  the  things  which  America  represents  and  is  proud 
to  represent.  And  it  takes  a  great  deal  more  courage  and  stead- 
fastness, my  fellow  citizens,  to  represent  ideal  things  than  to 
represent  anything  else.  It  is  easy  to  lose  your  temper,  and  hard 
to  keep  it.  It  is  easy  to  strike  and  sometimes  very  difficult  to 
refrain  from  striking,  and  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that 
we  are  most  justified  in  being  proud  of  doing  the  things  that  are 
hard  to  do  and  not  the  things  that  are  easy.  You  do  not  settle 
things  quickly  by  taking  what  seems  to  be  the  quickest  way  to 
settle  them.  You  may  make  tb^.  complication  just  that  much  the 
more  profound  and  inextricable,  and,  therefore,  what  I  believe 
America  should  exalt  above  everything  else  is  the  sovereignty  of 
thoughtfulness  and  sympathy  and  vision  as  against  the  grosser 
impulses  of  mankind.  No  nation  can  live  without  vision,  and 
no  vision  will  exalt  a  nation  except  the  vision  of  real  liberty  and 
real  justice  and  purity  of  conduct. 


32  AMERICANISM 

PEACE   HYMN   OF   THE   REPUBLIC 

HENRY  VAN  DYKE 
PROFESSOR,  POET,  UNITED  STATES  MINISTER 

O  Lord  our  God,  Thy  mighty  hand 

Hath  made  our  country  free ; 
From  all  her  broad  and  happy  land 

May  praise  arise  to  Thee. 
Fulfill  the  promise  of  her  youth, 

Her  liberty  defend; 
By  law  and  order,  love  and  truth, 
America  befriend ! 

The  strength  of  every  State  increase 

In  Union's  golden  chain; 
Her  thousand  cities  fill  with  peace, 

Her  million  fields  with  grain. 
The  virtues  of  her  mingled  blood 

In  one  new  people  blend; 
By  unity  and  brotherhood, 

America  befriend ! 

O  suffer  not  her  feet  to  stray, 

But  guide  her  untaught  might; 
That  she  may  walk  in  peaceful  day, 

And  lead  the  world  in  light. 
Bring  down  the  proud,  lift  up  the  poor, 

Unequal  ways  amend; 
By  justice,  nation-wide  and  sure, 

America  befriend! 

Thro'  all  the  waiting  land  proclaim 

Thy  gospel  of  good-will ; 
And  may  the  music  of  Thy  name 

In  every  bosom  thrill. 
O'er  hill  and  vale,  from  sea  to  sea, 

Thy  holy  reign  extend ; 
By  faith  and  hope  and  charity, 

America  befriend! 
The  Grand  Canyon  and  other  poems.     42-43.  New  York.  Scribner.  1914. 


AMERICANISM  33 

AMERICANISM:     WHAT  IT  IS 
DAVID  JAYNE  HILL 

COLLEGE    PRESIDENT,     PROFESSOR    OF    EUROPEAN     DIPLOMACY,     UNITED 

STATES    AMBASSADOR,    HISTORIAN,    MEMBER   OF    THE    PERMANENT 

ADMINISTRATIVE    COUNCIL    OF    THE    HAGUE    TRIBUNAL 

Long  before  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  wrote  of  the  "Contrat 
Social,"  or  John  Locke  of  a  "Civil  Compact,"  a  company  of  plain 
men,  sailing  over  wintry  seas  to  an  unknown  land  with  the  pur- 
pose of  escaping  the  too  heavy  hand  of  an  absolute  government, 
on  November  n,  1620,  as  they  were  approaching  the  shores  of 
what  was  afterward  New  England,  drew  up  and  signed  in  the 
cabin  of  their  little  ship  a  compact  which  expressed  a  new  idea 
of  human  government.  This  was  nearly  thirty  years  before  the 
famous  "Agreement  of  the  People"  of  1647,  in  which  the  follow- 
ers of  Cromwell  endeavored  to  establish  for  the  security  of  their 
rights  against  the  encroachments  of  arbitrary  power  a  supreme 
law  placed  above  the  power  of  Parliament.  The  compact  written 
in  the  Mayflower  pledged  the  signers  not  only  to  frame  for 
themselves  "just  and  equal  laws,"  but  "to  yield  to  them  all  due 
submission  and  obedience."  Here  was  the  beginning  of  real  self- 
government. 

There  was  nothing  original  in  the  mere  fact  of  a  written  com- 
pact, for  written  compacts  had  long  before  been  extorted  from 
kings  and  emperors  by  popular  uprisings.  The  new  leaven  was 
the  voluntary  submission  to  self-imposed  law,  as  a  means  of  se- 
curing a  permanent  guarantee  of  individual  rights. 
****** 

New  Conception  of  the  State 

For  the  first  time  since  Europe  emerged  from  primitive  sav- 
agery, an  opportunity  was  offered  for  the  free  exercise  of  intel- 
ligence in  considering  the  fundamental  problems  of  government, 
without  interference  on  the  part  of  arbitrary  power  and  dynastic 

interests. 

****** 

The  result  was  a  new  and  distinctive  conception  of  the  State 
—a  conception  differing  by  the  whole  diameter  of  human  experi- 
ence from  that  which  was  then  generally  accepted  in  other  parts 
of  the  world,  not  excepting  England. 


34  AMERICANISM 

In  what,  then,  did  the  new  conception  consist? 
Distinctive  American  Doctrine 

The  American  idea  was  that  there  are  certain  rights  and  lib- 
erties which  should  never  be  subject  to  abridgement  by  law,  and 
that  encroachments  upon  these  rights  and  liberties  by  a  portion 
—even  by  a  majority— of  the  people,  or  by  any  government  they 
might  establish,  should  be,  through  a  superior  and  permanent 
law,  declared  illegal.  For  this  there  was  necessary  a  voluntary 
renunciation  of  power  in  accordance  with  fixed  principles  of 
justice. 

****** 

Essential  Elements  in  The  American  Conception 

In  truth,  success  cannot  be  expected  from  any  system  of  gov- 
ernment unless  the  individuals  who  compose  the  State  entertain 
respect  for  the  personal  rights  and  liberties  of  all.  The 
moment  a  disposition  prevails  to  deny  these,  or  to  impose  a  dom- 
inant will  upon  the  community,  the  system  of  guarantees  is  un- 
dermined ;  and  it  is  in  its  guarantees  of  personal  liberty  that  the 
American  conception  consists.  Local  autonomy  in  all  local  mat- 
ters, popular  representation  in  State  and  National  affairs,  the 
federation  of  independent  communities,  a  body  of  unalterable 
principles  accepted  in  a  fundamental  law,  judicial  decision  in  the 
settlement  of  differences — these  are  essential  elements  in  the 
American  conception  of  the  State. 

****** 

Friends  and  Enemies  of  Constitutionalism 

The  dangers  to  the  American  conception  of  constitutional 
government  do  not  arise  from  the  open  opposition  of  its  en- 
emies, for  in  the  field  of  free  debate  it  is  abundantly  able  to  de- 
fend itself.  Its  real  foes — and  they  are  not  few — are  those  who 
do  not  avowedly  attack  or  resist  it;  but  who,  while  professing  to 
be  its  friends,  and  even  its  advocates,  secretly  repudiate  or  in- 
tentionally pervert  its  fundamental  principles. 

In  contrast  with  the  political  absolutism  which  it  was  in- 
tended to  destroy,  and  which  it  has  endeavored  to  supersede, 
American  constitutional  government  is  based  upon  the  principle 
of  equal  guarantees  for  the  rights  of  all  citizens,  without  dis- 
tinction of  persons  or  classes,  under  the  protection  of  co-ordinate 
and  distributed  powers,  exercised  by  public  officers  freely  chosen 


AMERICANISM  35 

by  the  people,  and  revocable  after  fixed  periods  of  office.  Recog- 
nizing lift,  personal  liberty,  and  property  as  elements  of  unalien- 
able  right,  the  American  system  of  government  aims  to  guard 
these  from  every  form  of  violation. 

The  mere  statement  of  the  meaning  of  that  system  plainly  in- 
dicates who  are  its  natural  enemies.  These  include  all  those 
who,  in  any  form  whatever,  desire  to  make  the  State  their  pri- 
vate servant,  and  through  control  of  the  public  powers  use  it  to 
v^ervc  their  o\vn  personal  or  class  interests  at  the  expense  of 
others. 

The  division  of  men  into  friends  and  enemies  of  the  Amer- 
ican idea  of  constitutional  government  is  based  upon  the  attitude 
they  assume  toward  its  fundamental  principle.  This  principle 
being  the  existence  of  equal  and  adequate  guarantees,  by  which 
the  life,  the  personal  liberty,  and  the  property  of  every  citizen 
are  rendered  inviolate,  every  person  and  every  organization  that 
aims  by  means,  of  exceptional  legislation  to  secure  special  ad- 
vantages to  the  detriment  of  others  must  be  classed  as  an  enemy 
of  the  American  system,  which — although  not  a  guarantee  of 
equal  conditions,  which  is  impossible — is  essentially  a  guarantee 
of  equal  rights.  .  .  . 

A  second  method  of  attack  upon  the  Federal  Constitution  is 
through  the  encroachment  of  one  or  more  of  the  three  divisions 
of  public  power  upon  the  legitimate  domain  of  others. 
*        #        *        *        *        * 

The  Needed  Revival  of  Americanism 

The  only  means  of  preventing  the  ultimate  collapse  of  con- 
stitutionalism as  conceived  by  the  founders  of  this  republic,  and 
the  only  remedy  if  this  calamity  is  in  some  degree  already  upon 
us,  is  a  firm  determination  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  arbitrary 
power  in  every  form  must  be  renounced;  that  life,  liberty,  and 
property  shall  still  enjoy  protection  against  any  form  of  absol- 
utism that  may  be  asserted  within  the  State. 

To  apply  this  remedy  the  country  needs  two  things :  first,  to 
consider  seriously  the  drift  of  the  social  forces  now  operating 
among  us,  with  a  view  to  forming  a  clear  conception  of  the  de- 
gree in  which  we  are  adhering  to  or  departing  from  the  spirit  of 
conformity  to  just  and  equal  laws ;  and,  second,  an  active  move- 
ment on  the  part  of  thoughtful  citizens  to  oppose  anti-constitu- 
tional tendencies, 


36  AMERICANISM 

Principles  Versus  Personalities 

Naturally,  in  moments  of  indecision  men  look  for  leaders, 
but  unless  they  look  also  for  principles  they  look  in  vain.  The 
choice  must  be  made  between  experiment  and  experience,  be' 
tween  arbitrary  decisions  and  fundamental  principles;  in  a  word 
between  political  anarchy  and  constitutional  government. 
****** 

Responsibility  in  a  True  Democracy 

It  is  clear  that  the  citizen  must  accept  and  obey  some  form  of 
public  authority;  but  it  is  equally  clear  that  public  authority  must 
consent  to  limit  itself  before  it  goes  so  far  as  to  invade  the 
sanctuary  of  the  personal  freedom  that  is  essential  to  individual 
responsibility. 

The  true  solution  is  found  in  the  American  conception  of  the 
State,  and  in  this  voluntary  self -limitation  of  power  lies  the  true 
foundation  of  Democracy.  In  this  system  the  citizen,  being  free, 
is  himself  responsible  for  government.  He  is  a  constituent,  and 
not  a  mere  subject,  of  the  State.  He  acts  through  represent- 
atives whom  he  believes  to  be  competent  to  deliberate  wisely  and 
conclude  justly;  but,  in  any  case,  they  are  his  representatives, 
and  are  subject  to  his  approbation  or  disapprobation.  The 
government,  whatever  it  is,  is  his  government.  If  it  be  good,  he 
must  see  that  it  is  preserved  and  continued.  If  it  be  bad,  he 
must  see  that  it  is  reformed  or  discontinued.  Whatever  it  is,  he 
can  never  justly  blame  it.  He  can  only  blame  himself. 
****** 

Democracy  Versus  Imperialism 

This  constitutional  idea  of  the  limited  powers  of  government, 
and  this  alone,  is  really  antithetical  to  Imperialism,  whose  watch- 
word is  unlimited  power.  Imperialism^  does  not  inquire  or  ex- 
hort, it  commands  and  compels.  It  wants  nothing  of  its  subjects 
but  abject  submission  and  obedience.  He  is  not,  in  its  concep- 
tion, a  constituent  of  the  State.  He  possesses  no  inherent  rights. 
He  can  claim  as  his  rights  only  what  the  government  accords  to 
him. 

Who,  then,  is  the  government?  The  man  who  is  in  power 
and  has  the  force  to  remain  in  power.  In  the  imperial  formula, 
"The  will  of  the  prince  is  law."  Authority,  in  this  conception  of 
it,  does  not  proceed  from  any  source  of  responsibility  toward 
men.  The  prince  may  be  responsible  to  God,  but  not  to  man. 


AMERICANISM  37 

He  renders  an  account  to  no  one.    For  the  subject  his  decision  is 

final. 

****** 

Our  Own  Relation  to  Imperialism 

We  know,  all  of  us,  and  it  requires  no  special  indictment  of 
any  nation  to  prove  it,  that  the  spirit  of  Imperialism  still  exists 
in  the  world,  that  it  is  not  confined  to  one  nation,  that  it  is  ac- 
tive, that  it  may  somewhere  be  triumphant,  or,  what  is  worse, 
that  it  may  somewhere  be  disappointed  of  its  expectations,  with- 
out being  extinguished,  and  look  for  new  fields  of  conquest. 
Some  day  we  may  have  to  resist  the  intrusion  of  it  into  our  own 
sphere  of  responsibility;  and  what  shall  we  do  then?  Shall  we 
remain  passive,  or  shall  we  act? 

We  know  further  that  the  greatest  danger  of  all  is  the  at- 
tempt to  amalgamate  the  spirit  of  Imperialism  with  the  spirit  of 
Democracy ;   for  this  would  probably  result  in  the  triumph  of 
Imperialism  in  our  own  republic  and  the  sapping  of  virtues  of 
the  democratic  ideal.    The  truth  is  that  there  is  a  deadly  incom- 
patibility in  the  effort  to  serve  two  masters.     If  we  really  aim  at 
empire,  it  is  suicidal  to  cultivate  Democracy.     If  we  love  De- 
mocracy,  we   must   renounce  the   spirit  of   conquest   and   world   f 
domination.    The  two  currents,  coming  together,  serve  to  weaken   i 
the  national  energies  and  to  paralyze  the  body  politic. 
****** 

An  American  Platform  of  Principles 

Eliminating  from  discussion,  therefore,  all  that  does  not  con- 
cern us  as  a  nation,  let  us  confine  our  attention  to  that  which  is 
vital  to  our  national  existence. 

There  are  certain  fundamental  principles  which  all  thoughtful 
American  citizens  unite  in  accepting.  Among  these  are  the 
propositions :  that  government  should  exist  for  the  sake  of  the 
governed;  that  a  just  government  is  based  upon  the  equal  rights 
of  all  the  people  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ; 
that,  in  consequence,  governments,  in  their  relation  to  one  an- 
other, should  recognize  these  rights;  and  that  all  governments, 
with  due  respect  for  the  principles  of  humanity,  should  regulate 
their  conduct  by  just  laws,  freely  accepted  and  faithfully  ob- 
served. 

This  simple  creed  needs  no  enlargement,  and  no  argumen- 
tative justification.  It  is  a  platform  of  world  politics  upon  which 


38  AMERICANISM 

all  American  citizens,  irrespective  of  their  ancestral  origin  or 
their  partisan  preferences,  may  unite.  These  doctrines  are  at 
once  our  birthright  and  a  sacred  trust.  They  are  the  lodestone 
that  has  attracted  the  oppressed  of  all  nations  to  these  shores. 
They  have  made  us  a  great,  a  prosperous,  and  a  mighty  people. 
No  true  American  wishes  to  withdraw  allegiance  to  them,  or 
would  hesitate  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  his  blood  in  defense  of 
them,  if  they  were  menaced  with  destruction. 

Americanism:   what   it   is*    14-15;    16;    16-17;    26;    41-2;    51-2;    62;    77-8; 
J33-S;    148-9;    175-7.      New  York.   Appleton.    1916. 


FEAR  GOD  AND  TAKE  YOUR  OWN  PART 
(1915) 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  lO 


Let  this  nation  fear  God  and  take  its  own  part.  Let  it  scorn 
to  do  wrong  to  great  or  small.  Let  it  exercise  patience  and 
charity  toward  all  other  peoples,  and  yet  at  whatever  cost  un- 
flinchingly stand  for  the  right  when  the  right  is  menaced  by  the 
might  which  backs  wrong.  Let  it  furthermore  remember  that 
the  only  way  in  which  successfully  to  oppose  wrong  which  is 
backed  by  might  is  to  put  over  against  it  right  which  is  backed 
by  might.  Wanton  or  unjust  war  is  an  abhorrent  evil.  But 
there  are  even  worse  evils.  Until,  as  a  nation,  we  learn  to  put 
honor  and  duty  above  safety,  and  to  encounter  any  hazard  with 
stern  joy  rather  than  fail  in  our  obligations  to  ourselves  and 
others,  it  is  mere  folly  to  talk  of  entering  into  leagues  for  world 
peace  or  into  any  other  movements  of  like  character.  The  only 
kind  of  peace  worth  having  is  the  peace  of  righteousness  and 
justice;  the  only  nation  that  can  serve  other  nations  is  the 
strong  and  valiant  nation;  and  the  only  great  international  poli- 
cies worth  considering  are  those  whose  upholders  believe  in 
them  strongly  enough  to  fight  for  them.  The  Monroe  Doctrine 
is  as  strong  as  the  United  States  navy,  and  no  stronger.  A  na- 
tion is  utterly  contemptible  if  it  will  not  fight  in  its  own  de- 
fence. A  nation  is  not  wholly  admirable  unless  in  time  of  stress 
it  will  go  to  war  for  a  great  ideal  wholly  unconnected  with  its 
immediate  material  interest 


AMERICANISM  39 

Let  us  prepare  not  merely  in  military  matters,  but  in  our  so- 
cial and  industrial  life.  There  can  be  no  sound  relationship  to- 
ward other  nations  unless  there  is  also  sound  relationship  among 
our  own  citizens  within  our  own  ranks.  Let  us  insist  on  the 

r  thorough  Americanization  of  the  newcomers  to  our  shores,  and 
let  us  also  insist  on  the  thorough  Americanization  of  ourselves. 
Let  us  encourage  the  fullest  industrial  activity,  and  give  the 
amplest  industrial  reward  to  those  whose  activities  are  most  im- 
portant for  securing  industrial  success,  and  at  the  same  time  let 
us  see  that  justice  is  done  and  , wisdom  shown  in  securing  the 
welfare  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  within  our  borders. 
Finally,  let  us  remember  that  we  can  do  nothing  to  help  other 
peoples,  and  nothing  permanently  to  secure  material  well-being 
and  social  justice  within  our  own  borders,  unless  we  feel  with 
all  our  hearts  devotion  to  this  country,  unless  we  are  Americans 
andjio&hiag.--e46e,  and  unless  in  time  of  peace~by  universal  mil- 
itary training,  by  insistence  upon  the  obligations  of  every  man 
and  every  woman  to  serve  the  commonwealth  both  in  peace  and 
war,  and,  above  all,  by  a  high  and  fine  preparedness  of  soul  and 
spirit,  we  fit  ourselves  to  hold  our  own  against  all  possible 
aggression  from  without. 


A   SWORD   FOR  DEFENSE 

The  fundamental  evil  in  this  country  is  the  lack  of  sufficiently 
general  appreciation  of  the  responsibility  of  citizenship.  Unfair 
business  methods,  the  misused  power  of  capital,  the  unjustified 
activities  of  labor,  pork-barrel  legislation  and  graft  among  power- 
ful politicians  have  all  been  made  possible  by,  and  have  been 
manifestations  of,  this  fundamental  evil.  Nothing  would  do  more 
to  remedy  this  evil  than  the  kind  of  training  in  citizenship,  in 
patriotism  and  in  efficiency,  which  would  come  as  the  result  of 
universal  service  on  the  Swiss  or  Australian  models  or  rather  on 
a  combination  of  the  two  adapted  to  our  needs.  There  should 
be  military  training,  as  part  of  a  high-school  education  which 
should  include  all-round  training  for  citizenship.  This  training 
should  begin  in  the  schools  in  serious  fashion  at  about  the  age 
of  16.  Then  between  the  ages  of  18  and  21  there  should  be  six 
months  actual  and  continuous  service  in  the  field  with  the  colors. 

Such  universal  training  would  give  our  young  men  the  dis- 
cipline, the  sense  of  orderly  liberty  and  of  loyalty  to  the  inter- 


40  AMERICANISM 

ests  of  the  whole  people  which  would  tell  in  striking  manner  for 
national  cohesion  and  efficiency.  It  would  tend  to  enable  us  in 
time  of  need  to  mobilize  not  only  troops  but  workers  and  finan- 
cial resources  and  industry  itself  and  to  coordinate  all  the  factors 
in  national  life.  There  can  be  no  such  mobilization  and  coor- 
dination until  we  appreciate  the  necessity  and  value  of  national 
organization ;  and  universal  service  would  be  a  most  powerful 
factor  in  bringing  about  such  general  appreciation. 

As  a  result  of  it,  every  man,  whether  he  carried  a  rifle  or 
labored  on  public  works  or  managed  a  business  or  worked  on  a 
railway,  would  have  a  clearer  conception  of  his  obligations  to 
the  State.  It  would  moreover  be  a  potent  method  of  American- 
izing the  immigrant.  The  events  of  the  last  eighteen  months 
have  shown  us  the  gravity  of  the  danger  to  American  life  of  the 
/  existence  of  foreign  communities  within  our  borders,  where  men 
/  are  taught  to  preserve  their  former  national  identity  instead  of 
*^  entering  unreservedly  into  our  own  national  life.  The  hy- 
"~  phenated  American  of  any  type  is  a  bad  American  and  an  enemy 
to  this  country.  The  best  possible  antiscorbutic  for  this  danger 
is  universal  service. 

Such  a  service  would  be  essentially  democratic.  A  man  has 
no  more  right  to  escape  military  service  in  time  of  need  than  he 
has  to  escape  paying  his  taxes.  We  do  not  beseech  a  man  to 
"volunteer"  to  pay  his  taxes,  or  scream  that  it  would  be  "an  in- 
fringement of  his  liberty"  and  "contrary  to  our  traditions"  to 
make  him  pay  them.  We  simply  notify  him  how  much  he  is  to 
pay,  and  when,  and  where.  We  ought  to  deal  just  as  summarily 
with  him  as  regards  the  even  more  important  matter  of  personal 
service  to  the  commonwealth  in  time  of  war.  He  is  not  fit  to 
live  in  a  state  unless  when  the  state's  life  is  at  stake  he  is  willing 
and  able  to  serve  it  in  any  way  that  it  can  best  use  his  abilities, 
and,  as  an  incident,  to  fight  for  it  if  the  state  believes  it  can  best 
use  him  in  such  fashion.  Unless  he  takes  this  position  he  is  not 
fit  to  be  a  citizen  and  should  be  deprived  of  the  vote.  Universal 
service  is  the  practical,  democratic  method  of  dealing  with  this 
problem.  Rich  boy  and  poor  boy  would  sleep  under  the  same 
dog  tent  and  march  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  hikes.  Such 
service  would  have  an  immense  democratizing  effect.  It  would 
improve  the  health  of  the  community,  physically  and  morally. 
It  would  increase  our  national  power  of  discipline  and  self-con- 
trol. It  would  produce  a  national  state  of  mind  which  would 


AMERICANISM  41 

enable  us  all  more  clearly  to  realize  the  necessity  of  social  legis- 
lation in  dealing  with  industrial  conditions  of  every  kind,  from 
unemployment  among  men  and  the  labor  of  women  and  chil- 
dren to  the  encouragement  of  business  activities. 

What  I  thus  advocate  is  nothing  new.  I  am  merely  applying 
to  present  day  conditions  the  advice  given  by  President  George 
Washington  when  he  submitted  a  plan  for  universal  military 
training  in  his  special  message  to  Congress  of  January  2ist,  1790. 
This  plan  advocated  military  training  for  all  the  young  men  of 
the  country,  stating  that  "every  man  of  proper  age  and  ability  of 
body  is  firmly  -bound  by  the  social  compact  to  perform  personally 
his  proportion  of  military  duty  for  the  defence  of  the  state," 
and  that  "all  men  of  the  legal  military  age  should  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  different  degrees  of  military  service,"  and  that  "the 
United  States  are  to  provide  for  arming,  organizing  and  dis- 
ciplining these  men."  This  is  merely  another  name  for  com- 
pulsory universal  service,  and  the  plan  actually  provided  that  no 
man  of  military  age  should  vote  unless  he  possessed  a  certificate 
showing  that  he  had  performed  such  service.  Washington  did 
not  regard  professional  pacifists  as  entitled  to  the  suffrage. 
^-^The  larger  Americanism  demands  that  we  insist  that  every 
/  immigrant  who  comes  here  shall  become  an  American  citizen 
(  and  nothing  else;  if  hejshows  tl^it  he  still  remains  at  heart  more 
/loyal  to  another  land,  let  .him  be  promptly  returned  to  that  land; 
and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  shows  that  he  is  in  good  faith  and 
whole-heartedly  an  American,  let  him  be  treated  as  on  a  full 
jejtjuality  with  the  native  born.  This  means  that  foreign  born  and 
native  born  alike  should  be  trained  to  absolute  loyalty  to  the 
flag,  and  trained  so  as  to  be  able  effectively  to  defend  the  flag. 
The  larger  Americanism  demands  that  we  refuse  to  be  sundered 
from  one  another  along  lines  of  class  or  creed  or  section  or  na- 
tional origin;  that  we  judge  *each  American  on  his  merits  as  a 
man ;  that  we  work  for  the  well-being  of  our  bodily  selves, 
but  also  for  the  well-being  of  our  spiritual  selves;  that  we  con- 
sider safety,  but  that  we  put  honor  and  duty  ahead  of  safety. 
Only  thus  shall  we  stand  erect  before  the  world,  high  of  heart, 
the  masters  of  our  own  souls,  fit  to  be  the  fathers  of  a  race  of 
freemen  who  shall  make  and  shall  keep  this  land  all  that  it 
seemed  to  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  mighty  men  who  founded  it 
and  the  mighty  men  who  saved  it. 


42  AMERICANISM 


AMERICANISM 

I  hold  that  in  this  country  there  must  be  complete  severance 
of  Church  and  State;  that  public  moneys  shall  not  be  used  for 
the  purpose  of  advancing  any  particular  creed;  and  therefore 
that  the  public  schools  shall  be  nonsectarian  and  no  public  moneys 
appropriated  for  sectarian  schools.  As  a  necessary  corollary  to 
this,  not  only  the  pupils  but  the  members  of  the  teaching  force 
and  the  school  officials  of  all  kinds  must  be  treated  exactly  on  a 
par,  no  matter  what  their  creed ;  and  there  must  be  no  more  dis- 
crimination against  Jew  or  Catholic  or  Protestant  than  discrim- 
ination in  favor  of  Jew,  Catholic  or  Protestant.  Whoever  makes 
such  discrimination  is  an  enemy  of  the  public  schools. 

What  is  true  of  creed  is  no  less  true  of  nationality.  There  is 
no  room  in  this  country  for  hyphenated  Americanism.  When  I 
refer  to  hyphenated  Americans,  I  do  not  refer  to  naturalized 
Americans.  Some  of  the  very  best  Americans  I  have  ever 
known  were  naturalized  Americans,  Americans  born  abroad. 
But  a  hyphenated  American  is  not  an  American  at  all.  This  is 
just  as  true  of  the  man  who  puts  "native"  before  the  hyphen  as 
of  the  man  who  puts  German  or  Irish  or  English  or  French  be- 
fore the  hyphen.  Americanism  is  a  matter  of  the  spirit  and  of 
the  soul.  Our  allegiance  must  .be  purely  to  the  United  States. 
We  must  unsparingly  condemn  any  man  who  holds  any  other 
allegiance.  But  if  he  is  heartily  and  singly  loyal  to  this  Republic, 
then  no  matter  where  he  was  born,  he  is  just  as  good  an  Amer- 
ican as  any  one  else. 

The  one  absolutely  certain  way  of  bringing  this  nation  to 
ruin,  of  preventing  all  possibility  of  its  continuing  to  be  a  nation 
at  all,  would  be  to  permit  it  to  become  a  tangle  of  squabbling 
nationalities,  an  intricate  knot  of  German-Americans,  Irish- 
Americans,  English-Americans,  French-Americans,  Scandinavian- 
Americans,  or  Italian-Americans,  each  preserving  its  separate 
nationality,  each  at  heart  feeling  more  sympathy  with  Europeans 
of  that  nationality  than  with  the  other  citizens  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic.  The  men  who  do  not  become  Americans  and 
nothing  else  are  hyphenated  Americans;  and  there  ought  to  be 
no  room  for  them  in  this  country.  The  man  who  calls  himself 
an  American  citizen  and  who  yet  shows  by  his  actions  that  he 
is  primarily  the  citizen  of  a  foreign  land,  plays  a  thoroughly 
mischievous  part  in  the  life  of  our  body  politic.  He  has  no  place 


AMERICANISM  43 

here;  and  the  sooner  he  returns  to  the  land  to  which  he  feels 
his  real  heart-allegiance,  the  better  it  will  be  for  every  good 
American.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  hyphenated  American 
who  is  a  good  American.  The  only  man  who  is  a  good  Amer- 
ican is  the  man  who  is  an  American  and  nothing  else. 

I  appeal  to  history.  Among  the  generals  of  Washington  in 
the  Revolutionary  War  were  Greene,  Putnam  and  Lee,  who 
were  of  English  descent ;  Wayne  and  Sullivan,  who  were  of 
Irish  descent;  Marion,  who  was  of  French  descent;  Schuyler, 
who  was  of  Dutch  descent,  and  Muhlenberg  and  Herkimer,  who 
were  of  German  descent.  But  they  were  all  of  them  Americans 
and  nothing  else,  just  as  much  as  Washington.  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton  was  a  Catholic ;  Hancock  a  Protestant ;  Jefferson  was 
heterodox  from  the  standpoint  of  any  orthodox  creed;  but  these 
and  all  other  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  stood 
on  an  equality  of  duty  and  right  and  liberty,  as  Americans  and 
nothing  else. 

So  it  was  in  the  Civil  War.  Farragut's  father  was  born  in 
Spain  and  Sheridan's  father  in  Ireland;  Sherman  and  Thomas 
were  of  English  and  Custer  of  German  descent ;  and  Grant  came 
of  a  long  line  of  American  ancestors  whose  original  home  had 
been  Scotland.  But  the  Admiral  was  not  a  Spanish- American ; 
and  the  Generals  were  not  Scotch-Americans  or  Irish-Amer- 
icans or  English-Americans  or  German-Americans.  They  were 
all  Americans  and  nothing  else. 

Fear  God  and  take  your  own  part.  pp.  55-7;  104-09;  361-3.  New  York. 
George  H.  Doran  Company.  1916. 


THE    DEMOCRACY    OF    TO-MORROW 
FREDERIC  C.  HOWE 

U.   S.  COMMISSIONER  OF  IMMIGRATION,  PORT  OF  NEW  YORK 

AUTHOR,  LAWYER,  ADMINISTRATOR,  COUNSELLOR 

STUDENT   OF    HUMAN    NEEDS 

We  are  beginning  to  see  that  democracy  is  something  more 
than  the  freedom  to  speak,  to  write,  to  worship  as  one  wills,  to 
be  faced  with  one's  accusers,  and  to  be  tried  by  one's  peers;  it 
involves  far  more  than  the  absence  of  absolute  government  or 


44  AMERICANISM 

the  tyranny  of  an  hereditary  caste.  The  right  of  participation 
in  the  government,  irrespective  of  birth,  race,  and  creed,  and  the 
substitution  of  manhood  suffrage  and  democratic  forms  for 
monarchical  institutions,  do  not  of  themselves  constitute  democ- 
racy, immeasurably  valuable  as  these  achievements  are. 

Democracy,  too,  involves  far  more  than  a  system  of  taxation 
that  is  ethically  just;  it  involves  far  more  than  the  right  to  trade 
where  one  wills,  unrestrained  by  tariff  laws ;  it  involves  far  more 
than  the  taking  by  the  community  of  the  wealth  that  the  com- 
munity creates,  or  the  ownership  by  the  people  of  the  highways, 
so  essential  to  the  common  life.  These  fundamental  changes  in 
the  relation  of  mankind  to  its  environment  do  not  constitute  an 
end  in  themselves,  any  more  than  does  the  right  of  the  ballot  or 
of  participation  in  the  government.  All  these  things  are  but 
means  to  an  end,  and  that  end  is  industrial  freedom,  a  freedom 
as  full  and  as  free  to  the  poor  as  to  the  rich,  to  the  next  genera- 
tion and  the  generations  which  follow  as  it  was  to  the  genera- 
tions which  spread  themselves  out  upon  an  unappropriated  con- 
tinent. Freedom  is  an  industrial  far  more  than  a  political  condi- 
tion. 

Unfortunately  the  idea  of  freedom  suggests  license  when 
demanded  for  all,  just  as  it  involves  license  when  enjoyed  by  the 
few.  Privilege  invokes  the  beneficence  of  freedom  when  it 
would  stay  the  hand  of  the  state  in  any  attempt  to  control  its 
excesses,  just  as  it  invokes  the  perils  of  freedom  when  it  would 
be  protected  from  its  consequences.  Privilege  protests  in  the 
name  of  freedom  against  regulation  of  the  railways  or  the  fran- 
chise corporations,  or  the  protection  by  law  of  children,  women 
workers,  and  those  engaged  in  hazardous  pursuits.  It  attacks 
the  labor  union,  the  closed  shop,  and  the  eight-hour  day  as  sub- 
versive of  personal  liberty,  but  invokes  another  argument  for 
protection  from  foreign  competition  or  the  right  to  monopoly 
combinations. 

The  political  economist  as  well  as  the  socialist  has  con- 
founded the  evils  of  the  present  industrial  system  with  freedom, 
Laissez  faire  is  credited  with  the  tenement,  the  sweat-shop,  and 
the  excesses  of  capitalism.  But  freedom,  even  the  laissez  faire 
of  Quesnay,  Turgot,  Dupont  de  Nemours,  and  the  brilliant  school 
of  thinkers  who  laid  the  foundation  for  the  abolition  of  the 
feudal  system  and  the  oppressive  restraints  of  mercantilism,  is  a 
far  different  thing  from  the  travesty  of  industrial  liberty  which 


AMERICANISM  45 

has  masqueraded  for  nearly  a  century  under  that  name.  For 
nowhere  has  there  been  freedom,  the  freedom  of  access  by  hu- 
manity to  the  source  of  all  life.  The  land  and  the  resources  of 
nature  have  been  locked  up  with  title-deeds  of  private  owner- 
ship, and  mankind  has  been  forced  to  content  itself  with  such 
opportunities  as  privilege  offered. 

It  was  economic  freedom  that  made  America  what  she  is. 
It  was  this  that  lies  at  the  foundation  of  our  democracy.  It  was 
not  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  it  was  not  the  Federal 
Constitution,  it  was  not  the  freedom  from  an  established  church 
or  hereditary  privilege,  it  was  not  even  the  ballot;  it  was  freedom 
of  access  to  the  earth  and  all  its  fulness,  it  was  the  free  land  that 
explained  our  institutions,  it  was  this  that  gave  us  industrial 
eminence.  The  things  we  hold  most  dear  are  but  the  reflections 
of  the  relations  of  the  American  people  to  the  land.  And  it  is 
the  passing  of  this  freedom,  it  is  the  enclosure  of  the  land  and 
the  coming  of  the  tenant,  it  is  the  monopoly  of  that  which  is  the 
source  of  all  life,  that  has  brought  down  the  curse  of  poverty 
upon  us,  just  as  it  did  in  Rome,  just  as  it  did  in  France,  just  as 
it  did  in  Ireland,  and  just  as  it  did  in  England  9t  a  later  day. 

The  remedy  herein  proposed  will  restore  the  foundations 
upon  which  democracy  is  laid.  It  will  insure  liberty  for  all 
time.  It  will  insure  equality  of  opportunity  in  every  walk  of  life 
and  will  guarantee  to  the  worker  all  that  his  genius,  his  talent, 
or  his  labor  produces.  The  open  door,  the  open  highway,  and 
the  socialization  of  the  land  will  destroy  the  tribute  now  exacted 
by  monopoly.  It  will  usher  in  a  social  order  in  which  men  will 
be  as  free  from  the  fear  of  want  as  they  are  from  want  itself. 
Then  men  will  look  forward  not  to  diminishing,  but  to  the  in- 
creasing opportunities,  for  freedom  will  not  only  continuously 
augment  the  wealth  of  the  world,  it  will  insure  its  just  distribu- 
tion to  those  who  produce  it. 

"Privilege  and  Democracy  in  America,"  294-302,  New  York.  Charles 
Scribners'  Sons.  1910. 


46  AMERICANISM 

OPPORTUNITY    AND    OBLIGATIONS    IN 
AMERICA   (1916) 

CHARLES  SEYMOUR  WHITMAN 
GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK,  IQI4- 

You  who  are  before  me  to-day,  recently  made  citizens  of  the 
Republic,  are  or  may  be  Americans  in  a  very  true  sense  of  the 
word.  No  mere  accident  of  birth  is  responsible  for  your  pres- 
ence in  the  United  States.  You  are  here  of  your  own  free 
choice.  You  left  the  land  of  your  fathers  not  because  that  land 
had  become  less  than  dear  to  you,  but  because  of  the  passion  for 
freedom  that  was  in  your  hearts  and  in  your  souls.  America 
drew  you  because  you  were  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  America ; 
because  you  had  that  in  you  which  made  you  eager  to  test  the 
bright  promise  of  a  country  wherein  no  artificial  barriers  stand 
between  the  humblest  citizen  and  the  heights  of  his  ambition. 
Just  living  in  America  does  not  make  one  an  American.  I  know 
very  many  good  and  worthy  people  who  were  born  in  the  United 
States  and  whose  fathers  before  them  were  born  in  the  United 
States,  and  yet  who  have  never  really  come  to  America  in  the 
deep  sense  of  the  word. 

It  is  equally  true  that  no  man  is  a  democrat  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  he  happens  to  live  in  a  democracy.  Democracy  and 
Americanism,  after  all,  have  very  little  to  do  with  things  physi- 
cal. They  are  more  concerned  with  the  spirit  than  with  the 
body.  They  are  things  that  man  has  got  to  feel,  to  think,  to 
struggle  for,  and  to  live  for. 

America  is  more  than  a  mere  body  of  land  with  certain  fixed 
boundaries  and  a  certain  form  of  government.  It  is  an  idea,  the 
most  tremendous  idea  ever  conceived  by  the  human  mind.  It  is 
not  so  much  a  place  in  which  to  live  as  a  place  in  which  to  hope. 
And  because  you  had  this  idea,  and  because  you  had  the  hope, 
you  were  Americans  from  the  first.  Naturalization  was  not 
necessary  to  make  you  part  of  us.  All  that  naturalization  has 
done  is  to  give  you  the  ballot,  that  is,  the  tool  that  will  enable 
you  to  bear  your  proper  share  in  the  work  of  making  the  dreams 
of  democracy  come  true. 

In  no  sense  is  citizenship  a  reward  that  has  been  given  to  you 


AMERICANISM  47 

because  you  have  lived  in  the  United  States  a  certain  number  of 
years.  It  is  a  job  that  has  been  given  to  you.  Keep  this  truth 
in  mind.  Never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  you  have  been  ad- 
mitted to  full  partnership  in  the  greatest  enterprise  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  and  that  the  success  or  failure  of  this  enter- 
prise is  as  much  dependent  upon  you  as  though  your  forefathers 
had  been  among  those  who  first  set  foot  upon  Plymouth  Rock. 

Many  of  you,  perhaps,  are  come  from  countries  where  kings 
sit  upon  thrones  by  virtue  of  the  theory  of  divine  right.  To-day 
you  yourselves  sit  upon  a  throne ;  you  yourselves  are  kings  by 
virtue  of  unalienable  human  rights  first  set  forth  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  no  empty  word  I  say  to  you.  Your  sovereignty  is  abso- 
lute. With  the  ballot  your  authority  is  unquestioned.  No  he- 
reditary caste  has  power  to  frown  you  down  or  to  dispute  your 
commands.  Those  in  office,  high  office  as  well  as  low,  cannot 
reach  to  their  positions  without  your  consent.  It  will  be  accord- 
ing to  your  desires  that  laws  are  made  and  that  policies  of 
government  are  adopted  and  given  effect. 

What  I  urge  upon  you  is  the  proper  pride  of  kings.  Let  no 
habit  of  thought  or  life  blind  you  to  the  greatness  of  the  power 
that  a  democracy  has  conferred  upon  you.  Do  not  cheapen  it  by 
indifference;  do  not  surrender  it  through  neglect.  Hold  the 
right  to  vote  as  an  opportunity  for  the  display  of  a  royal  pre- 
rogative that  contains  within  itself  not  only  your  own  happiness, 
but  the  happiness  of  countless  thousands  who  are  groping  in  the 
shadows. 

This  will  be  no  easy  task.  It  is  a  tragedy  of  great  blessings 
that  they  lose  their  importance  as  they  lose  their  novelty.  As 
you  enter  into  the  civic  life  of  the  community  and  the  nation,  it 
may  well  be  that  you  will  find  many  citizens  who  do  not  possess 
any  proper  appreciation  of  the  ballot.  You  will  see  men,  many  of 
them  native  born,  who  do  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  go  to  the 
polls  on  election  day.  You  will  see  others  who  have  no  larger 
use  for  the  vote  than  to  use  it  as  an  expression  of  their  inherited 
prejudices,  casting  ballots  as  boys  throw  stones.  And  it  may 
even  be  that  you  will  be  saddened  by  the  sight  of  citizens  so  lost 
to  the  meaning  of  democracy  that  they  even  sell  their  votes  to 
men  who  have  selfish  interests  to  serve. 

It  is  your  privilege  to  aid  in  the  great  task  of  bringing  this 
indifference  and  this  evil  to  an  end.  Let  no  election  day  pass 


48  AMERICANISM 

without  the  casting  of  your  ballot,  and  take  pains  to  see  that 
every  vote  is  the  vote  of  honesty,  intelligence,  and  true  Amer- 
icanism. By  so  doing  you  will  not  only  be  true  to  yourselves, 
but  true  to  the  country  of  your  love  and  your  adoption. 

It  is  at  once  the  weakness  and  the  strength  of  a  democracy 
that  it  is  what  the  people  make  it.  It  can  be  lifted  toward 
heaven  or  it  can  sink  to  the  depths.  It  can  give  liberty,  justice, 
and  equality  the  fullest,  finest  expression  or  it  can  imprison  op- 
portunity and  put  greed  in  power.  It  is  for  you,  and  for  every 
other  citizen,  to  choose. 

The  doors  of  America  have  ever  been  opened  to  the  world. 
Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  close  them,  but  the  voice  of 
the  people  has  never  failed  to  be  lifted  against  these  attempts. 

Do  not,  however,  be  so  blind  as  to  get  the  idea  that  America 
is  not  interested  in  education,  or  that  America  does  not  demand 
education  of  its  citizens.  The  very  fate  of  democracy  hangs  on 
the  intelligence  or  ignorance  of  those  who  govern  the  United 
States  by  their  votes.  No  country  in  the  world  spends  so  much 
money  on  its  schools.  In  the  deserts  and  mountains,  even  as  in 
the  great  cities,  every  provision  is  made  for  the  education  of  our 
growing  youth,  and  even  for  the  education  of  those  of  older 
years  who  were  without  such  advantages  when  young. 

The  Church  and  the  Schoolhouse,  testifying  alike  to  a  peo- 
ple's devotion  to  God  and  progress,  have  been  builded  even  be- 
fore homes.  Even  the  needs  of  the  body  have  not  been  allowed 
to  stand  before  the  needs  of  the  spirit.  America,  by  its  very  ex- 
istence, promises  freedom  to  the  world,  but  the  measure  of  that 
freedom,  the  splendor  of  that  liberty,  is  found  in  the  develop- 
ment of  mass  intelligence,  mass  education. 

It  is  not  a  crime  to  have  come  to  this  country  unlettered  and 
unlearned.  It  is  a  crime,  however,  if  illiteracy  is  preferred  to 
the  open  doors  of  knowledge. 

In  the  schoolhouses  of  America  one  may  find  democracy's 
confession  as  well  as  democracy's  declaration.  We  do  not  spend 
millions  on  education  out  of  no  larger  hope  than  that  our  children 
may  reach  the  same  level  on  which  we  stand.  We  maintain  our 
thousands  of  schoolhouses  out  of  our  passionate  desire  to  give 
our  children  a  better,  finer  chance  than  their  fathers  had,  to  en- 
able them  to  reach  the  heights  of  which  we  only  dream. 

There  is  no   doubt  that  many  hopeful    thousands    come    to 


AMERICANISM  49 

America  in  the  idea  that  the  battles  of  democracy  have  all  been 
fought,  that  every  possible  victory  has  been  won.  Many,  coming 
into  sight  of  the  Statue  of  Liberty  for  the  first  time,  are  firmly 
of  the  opinion  that  America  stands  upon  the  ultimate  heights. 
This  is  not  true,  nor  will  it  ever  be  quite  true,  for  the  struggle 
for  liberty,  justice,  and  equality  is  the  struggle  everlasting. 

We  have  done  much,  but  there  is  still  much  to  do.  Out  of 
the  wonders  wrought  by  democracy  we  are  all  too  prone  to  for- 
get that  democracy  is  still  in  its  swaddling  clothes.  Only  one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  years  ago  did  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence hearten  the  world  with  the  splendor  of  its  promise. 
There  were  forests  and  deserts  and  mountains  to  conquer,  a  daily 
struggle  against  wild  beasts  and  wilder  men,  a  terrible  war  to 
establish  the  principle  that  freedom  did  not  take  account  of  color, 
and  then,  even  as  a  people  who  have  not  paused  to  take  breath, 
our  whole  civilization  changed  from  agricultural  to  industrial. 

Only  yesterday  the  United  States  was  a  vast  farm.  To-day  it 
is  a  factory.  Old  laws  have  had  to  be  changed,  new  laws  have 
had  to  be  made.  What  older  nations  required  centuries  to  do, 
the  United  States  has  had  to  do  in  years. 

It  is  possible  that  you,  and  thousands  of  others  like  you,  will 
find  evils  and  injustices  such  as  you  had  hoped  to  escape  when 
you  went  down  to  the  sea  and  took  ships  for  this  land  of  free- 
dom. There  is  this  difference,  however,  between  those  evils  and 
injustices  from  which  you  have  fled  and  those  which  you  may 
find.  It  will  be  in  your  power  to  fight  them — in  your  power  to 
correct  them.  If  they  persist  it  is  because  you  choose  to  let  them 
persist. 

It  is  for  this  kind  of  fighting  that  America  calls  upon  her  citi- 
zens— it  is  this  sort  of  militarism  that  America  needs  and  de- 
mands. The  United  States  has  a  dream  of  conquest  just  as 
much  as  any  empire  has  had  a  dream  of  conquest  but  it  is  not 
with  the  territory  of  other  countries  that  this  dream  is  con- 
cerned. What  we  are  pledged  to  do  is  to  conquer  ourselves — to 
wage  war  against  our  own  mean  desires,  our  own  selfishness, 
and  to  win  the  great  victory  that  will  put  the  common  good 
above  the  personal  good,  the  common  welfare  above  the  in- 
dividual welfare. 

America  can  be  shamed,  but  only  by  herself.  It  is  not  in  the 
power  of  any  other  nation  to  shame  us.  If  we  fail  to  give  fullest 
meaning  to  liberty,  justice  and  equality;  if  we  fail  to  put  founda- 


50  AMERICANISM 

tions  under  the  air-castles  of  democracy;  if  we  yield  to  the 
savage  ambitions  that  urge  strength  to  take  advantage  of  weak- 
ness, then  we  shall  have  deserved  not  only  our  own  contempt  but 
the  contempt  of  all  those  nations  who  have  sneered  at  our  ex- 
periment in  democracy  as  fantastic  and  futile. 

As  never  before  in  our  history,  the  world  is  making  call  upon 
the  strength  of  democracy.  The  shock  of  war  is  shaking  Europe 
to  its  very  foundations,  and  the  established  standards  that  have 
governed  human  relations  are  menaced  by  the  passions  of  con- 
flict. 

America  only  remains  on  guard;  America  alone  is  possessed 
of  the  peace  and  power  to  keep  inviolate  the  principles  of  justice 
and  fraternity.  If  we  are  false  to  ourselves  we  shall  be  false  to 
civilization,  for  we  shall  doom  the  future  to  confusion  and  hope- 
lessness. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  which  the  United  States  has  addressed  it- 
self. When  all  the  world  is  at  war,  peace  has  many  irritations. 
Made  up,  as  we  are,  of  every  nationality,  every  color  and  every 
creed,  it  is  inevitable  that  the  prejudices  of  partisanship  should 
be  felt ;  that  ties  of  blood  should  make  appeal  to  sympathies. 

It  is  the  solemn  obligation  of  every  citizen  to  see  that  such 
prejudices  and  such  sympathies  work  no  forgetfulness  of  the 
duties  that  are  owed  to  America  and  that  America  demands. 
Not  even  in  the  days  when  the  thirteen  colonies  resolved  upon 
independence  and  democracy  has  there  been  such  a  need  for 
unity  in  thought,  unity  in  purpose,  unity  in  devotion  and  unity  in 
service. 

You  have  come  into  the  drama  of  American  life  at  a  great 
moment.  The  opportunity  to  play  a  very  real  part  in  that  drama 
is  yours.  The  possibilities  of  American  citizenship  are  unlimited. 
You  may  not  realize  in  the  land  of  your  adoption  all  that  you 
have  fondly  hoped  and  dreamed  in  your  homes  across  the  sea. 
The  struggles  for  truth,  for  justice  and  for  human  progress  are 
not  all  over,  there  are  contests  yet  to  win,  and  the  great  people, 
who  have  welcomed  you  to  share  in  the  blessings  of  American 
civilization  have  a  right  to  call  upon  you  to  assist  in  carrying 
that  civilization  to  a  level  of  human  attainment,  the  highest  that 
the  world  has  ever  known. 

Immig.   in  Amer.   Rev.   2:51-4.     April,   1916. 


AMERICANISM  51 

TRANS-NATIONAL  AMERICA 
RANDOLPH   S.  BOURNE 

STUDENT,    WRITER,    EDITOR 

No  reverberate ry  effect  of  the  great  war  has  caused  American 
public  opinion  more  solicitude  than  the  failure  of  the  "melting- 
pot."  The  discovery  of  diverse  nationalistic  feelings  among  our 
great  alien  population  has  come  to  most  people  as  an  intense 
shock.  It  has  brought  out  the  unpleasant  inconsistencies  of  our 
traditional  beliefs.  We  have  had  to  watch  hard-hearted  old 
Brahmins  virtuously  indignant  at  the  spectacle  of  the  immigrant 
refusing  to  be  melted,  while  they  jeer  at  patriots  like  Mary  Antin 
who  write  about  "our  forefathers."  We  have  had  to  listen  to 
publicists  who  express  themselves  as  stunned  by  the  evidence 
of  vigorous  nationalistic  and  cultural  movements  in  this  coun- 
try among  Germans,  Scandinavians,  Bohemians,  and  Poles,  while 
in  the  same  breath  they  insist  that  the  alien  shall  be  forcibly 
assimilated  to  that  Anglo-Saxon  tradition  which  they  unques- 
tioningly  label  "American." 

As  the  unpleasant  truth  has  come  upon  us  that  assimilation  in 
this  country  was  proceeding  on  lines  very  different  from  those 
we  had  marked  out  for  it,  we  found  ourselves  inclined  to  blame 
those  who  were  thwarting  our  prophecies.  The  truth  became 
culpable.  We  blamed  the  war,  we  blamed  the  Germans.  And 
then  we  discovered  with  a  moral  shock  that  these  movements  had 
been  making  great  headway  before  the  war  even  began.  We 
found  that  the  tendency,  reprehensible  and  paradoxical  as  it  might 
be,  has  been  for  the  national  clusters  of  immigrants,  as  they  be- 
came more  and  more  firmly  established  and  more  and  more  pros- 
perous, to  cultivate  more  and  more  assiduously  the  literatures  and 
cultural  traditions  of  their  homelands.  Assimilation,  in  other 
words,  instead  of  washing  out  the  memories  of  Europe,  made 
them  more  and  more  intensely  real.  Just  as  these  clusters  became 
more  and  more  objectively  American,  did  they  become  more  and 
more  German  or  Scandinavian  or  Bohemian  or  Polish. 

To  face  the  fact  that  our  aliens  are  already  strong  enough 
to  take  a  share  in  the  direction  of  their  own  destiny,  and  that  the 
strong  cultural  movements  represented  by  the  foreign  press, 
schools,  and  colonies  are  a  challenge  to  our  facile  attempts,  is 
not,  however,  to  admit  the  failure  of  Americanization.  It  is 


52  AMERICANISM 

not  to  fear  the  failure  of  democracy.  It  is  rather  to  urge  us  to 
an  investigation  of  what  Americanism  may  rightly  mean.  It  is 
to  ask  ourselves  whether  our  ideal  has  been  broad  or  narrow — 
whether  perhaps  the  time  has  not  come  to  assert  a  higher  ideal 
than  the  "melting-pot."  Surely  we  cannot  be  certain  of  our 
spiritual  democracy  when,  claiming  to  melt  the  nations  within 
us  to  a  comprehension  of  our  free  and  democratic  institutions, 
we  fly  into  panic  at  the  first  sign  of  their  own  will  and  tendency. 
We  act  as  if  we  wante4  Americanization  to  take  place  only  on 
our  own  terms,  and  not  by  the  consent  of  the  governed.  All  our 
elaborate  machinery  of  settlement  and  school  and  union,  of  social 
and  political  naturalization,  however,  will  move  with  friction  just 
in  so  far  as  it  neglects  to  take  into  account  this  strong  and  virile 
insistence  that  America  shall  be  what  the  immigrant  will  have  a 
hand  in  making  it,  and  not  what  a  ruling  class,  descendant  of 
those  British  stocks  which  were  the  first  permanent  immigrants, 
decide  that  America  shall  be  made.  This  is  the  condition  which 
confronts  us,  and  which  demands  a  clear  and  general  readjust- 
ment of  our  attitude  and  our  ideal. 

Atlantic   Monthly    118:86-97.     July,    1916. 


DEMOCRACY   OF   INTERNATIONALISM 

DIRECTOR  IMMIGRANTS'  PROTECTIVE  LEAGUE,  CHICAGO 
GRACE  ABBOT 

The  demand  for  "nationalism"  in  Europe  is  the  democratic 
demand  that  a  people  shall  be  free  to  speak  the  language  which 
they  prefer  and  develop  their  own  national  culture  and  character. 
Here  in  the  United  States,  we  are  working  out,  blunderingly,  and 
with  the  injustice  which  comes  from  inherited  prejudices,  the 
democracy  not  of  nationalism  but  of  internationalism.  If  Eng- 
lish, Irish,  Polish,  German,  Scandinavian,  Russian,  Lithuanian 
and  all  the  other  races  of  the  earth  can  live  together — each  mak- 
ing his  own  distinctive  contribution  to  our  common  life;  if  we 
can  respect  those  differences  which  result  from  a  different  social 
and  political  environment  and  see  the  common  interests  that 
unite  all  people,  we  will  meet  the  American  opportunity.  If,  in- 
stead we  blindly  follow  Europe  and  cultivate  a  national  egotism, 
we  shall  need  to  develop  a  contempt  for  others  and  to  foster 


AMERICANISM  53 

those  national  hatreds  and  jealousies  which  are  necessary    for 
aggressive  nationalism. 

Is  it  too  much  for  us  to  hope  that  the  United  States  may  de- 
velop a  foreign  policy  which  will  grow  out  of  the  understanding 
which  comes  from  the  fact  that  those  who  have  come  to  us,  with 
all  the  racial  and  religious  hatreds  which  have  been  carefully 
nurtured  in  support  of  a  selfish  nationalism  at  home,  have  lived 
together  in  the  United  States  on  the  same  street,  in  the  same 
tenement,  finding  the  appeal  of  a  common  interest  greater  than 
the  appeal  of  centuries  of  bitterness? 

Americanism  of  the  Future 

Here  are  all  shades  of  opinion — the  reactionary  Russian  who 
finds  himself  in  agreement  with  the  reactionary  American  who 
fears  the  development  of  democracy;  here  is,  too,  the  Russian' 
who  is  ready  to  suffer  again  Siberian  imprisonment  if  it  would 
promote  the  cause  of  liberalism  in  Russia.  This  is  the  Russian 
who  realizes  that  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  Pole,  the  Jew, 
the  Finn,  the  Lithuanian,  and  the  Ruthenian  is  necessary  if  the 
Russian  himself  is  to  be  really  free.  Here  are  Bohemians  liberal 
and  reactionary,  Catholic  and  Freethinker,  agreeing  in  their 
desire  for  an  autonomous  Bohemia ;  here  are  Poles  of  all  parties 
united  in  support  of  "free  Poland." 

And  finally,  here,  too,  are  the  Americans  of  many  generations 
whose  neighbors,  friends,  and  business  associates  come  from  all 
these  groups  and  who  have  also  been  a  part  of  that  American 
internationalism  which  is  founded  not  on  diplomacy  or  force 
but  is  the  result  of  the  understanding  which  has  come  with  the 
necessity  of  living  and  working  together. 

"Americanism"  is  much  more  a  matter  of  the  future  than  of 
the  past.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  we  can  have  the  courage  to  be 
unlike  Europe  in  both  our  nationalism  and  our  internationalism 
and  the  imagination  to  use  the  possibilities  which  are  ours  be- 
cause we  are  of  many  races  and,  by  the  closest  of  human  ties, 
are  related  to  all  the  world. 

Survey.   36:478-80.  Ap.  5,  '16. 


54  AMERICANISM 


THE  OLD  STOCK  AND  THE  NEW 

A  good  deal  is  being  said  about  the  loss  of  influence  in  politics, 
morals,  and  manners  of  Americans  of  the  "old  stock" — the  men 
and  women  who  have  been  long  acclimated,  so  to  speak,  in  the  air 
of  the  New  World  and  who  have  had  the  largest  opportunities 
of  education  under  popular  institutions.  Richard  Grant  White 
defined  an  American  as  one  whose  ancestors  had  come  to  this 
country  before  the  Revolution.  The  men  and  women  who  lived 
together  through  the  vicissitudes  and  anxieties,  and  bore  the 
sacrifices,  of  that  long  and  exhausting  struggle  shared  a  unify- 
ing experience  and  became  an  independent  people ;  but  they  did 
not  become  a  nation. 

They  had  many  fine  traits  of  personal  and  political  character ; 
they  honored  religion,  supported  education,  and  developed  a  spirit 
of  sturdy  self-reliance.  The  more  fortunate  among  them  in 
point  of  ease  of  condition  and  cultivation  were  men  and  women 
of  dignity  and  refinement  of  taste.  They  had  a  sound  sense  of 
form  in  architecture,  as  many  old  Colonial  houses  and  churches 
show.  Their  colleges  were  schools  of  culture  rather  than  of  voca- 
tional efficiency,  and  their  libraries  were  full  of  standard  books. 
Their  music  was  narrow  in  range,  but  it  was  free  from  vulgarity 

The  "old  stock"  was  largely  descendent  of  the  English,  French 
and  Dutch — races  of  active  intelligence  and  energy  of  will.  The 
early  immigrants  to  the  New  World  were  largely,  though  by  no 
means  entirely,  of  the  various  Protestant  faiths.  Love  of  liberty 
was  in  their  blood,  and,  as  time  went  on  and  the  habit  of  free 
action  became  fixed,  they  defined,  first  in  idea  and  later  in  action, 
an  ideal  of  freedom  which  has  become  the  fundamental  faith  of 
the  American  people.  They  gave  the  Colonies  leaders  in  the 
great  debate  which  preceded  the  Revolution ;  they  developed  gen- 
erals of  high  ability,  who  were  also  men  of  noble  disinterested- 
ness of  nature  and  successfully  led  the  amateur  Colonial  fighters 
against  professional  soldiers  trained  in  Europe. 

In  the  critical  years  that  followed  the  war  they  held  the  coun- 
try back  from  anarchy  and  to  the  difficult  task  of  framing  a 
Constitution  for  the  new  and  inexperienced  Nation  they  sent  a 
large  group  of  highly  educated  and  able  men.  For  many  years 
public  affairs  were  largely  in  their  hands,  and  they  developed 
political  leaders  of  a  high  order  of  sagacity. 


AMERICANISM  55 

The  "old  stock"  gave  the  Nation  its  moral  and  political  ideals 
and  met  the  crisis  of  the  Civil  War  with  a  courage  and  patriot- 
ism which  showed  that  it  was  not  only  sound  at  heart,  but  had 
not  lost  the  inspiration  of  faith  nor  the  ability  to  deal  strongly 
with  difficult  and  perilous  conditions. 

That  war  created  a  nation,  and  the  war  which  liberated  Cuba 
made  Americans  conscious  that  they  had  become  a  nation  with 
the  responsibilities  of  a  nation  in  the  world.  It  is  as  idle  to  talk 
of  maintaining  the  old  policy  of  seclusion  as  to  talk  of  bringing 
back  the  old  practice  of  cutthroat  competition;  both  are  out- 
grown. The  National  life  has  broadened  and  deepened,  and  a 
nobler  idea  of  the  place  and  function  of  a  nation  in  the  modern 
world  is  defining  itself. 

With  this  widening  of  ideas  and  interests  there  has  come 
another  group  of  men  and  women  from  the  Old  World  who  are 
rapidly  creating  a  "new  stock,"  and  many  thoughtful  Americans 
are  asking  whether  in  making  the  house  so  free  to  all  who  want 
to  share  its  protection  we  are  not  endangering  the  ideals  of  the 
family  and  jeopardizing  the  spirit  and  faith  which  are  the  most 
precious  possessions  bequeathed  by  the  men  and  women  of  the 
"old  stock."  It  is  certainly  true  that  the  gates  have  not  been 
properly  guarded  against  crime  and  disease ;  though,  The  Out- 
look holds,  the  selective  process  ought  to  be  made  in  Europe 
rather  than  in  New  York.  It  is  also  true  that  the  absence  of  in- 
telligent methods  of  distribution  has  led  to  the  practical  segrega- 
tion of  great  numbers  of  new  comers  into  localities  which  are 
almost  as  definite  in  boundary  as  the  old  pales  in  mediaeval  cities. 
With  a  lack  of  foresight  which  has  been  criminal  in  its  stupidity 
we  have  brought  in  small  armies  of  men  and  women  ignorant  of 
our  language,  laws,  and  habits,  planted  them  in  isolated  colonies, 
done  little  or  nothing  to  show  them  how  to  be  Americans,  left 
them  to  the  leadership  of  agitators,  and  then,  when  they  have 
become  turbulent  and  lawless,  have  accused  them  of  violating 
the  hospitality  of  the  Nation.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  hospitality 
has  never  been  offered  them.  They  have  been  brought  over  in 
ship  loads,  carted  like  freight  to  distant  points,  and  dumped  in  a 
mass  like  usable  human  refuse.  They  have  been  worked;  they 
have  not  been  Americanized. 

Editorial.     Outlook.    107:334-5.  Je    13,   '14. 


56  AMERICANISM 

THE   FAITH   THAT    IS   IN   US 
WINTHROP  TALBOT 

Americanism  is  the  voluntary  choosing  of  American  ideals, 
the  adoption  of  principles  for  which  America  stands.  And  what 
are  they?  Freedom  to  worship  God?  Life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  ?  Government  through  representation  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people?  Equal  suffrage  and 
universal  obligation  to  public  service? 

These,  but  also  something  still  more  basic  to  our  obligations 
and  privileges  as  American  citizens.  Namely,  the  right  of  the 
individual  to  know.  America  stands  for  universal  untrammell«d 
right  and  opportunity  to  share  in  thought.  Moreover  AmericaVi 
democracy  possesses  a  unique  mechanism  for  thought  sharing. 

Let  us  hark  back  to  the  settling  time  of  this  country.  The 
Pilgrims  landed  on  a  rockbound  coast  in  search  of  opportunity 
to  worship  God  in  their  own  sectarian  fashion,  yet  banished  from 
their  midst  those  who  presumed  to  differ  in  religious  tenets. 

In  1620  Americanism  was  liberty  to  specialize  in  intolerance. 
There  was  little  thought  of  toleration,  freedom,  union,  democracy 
in  the  Americanism  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Nor  were  the  Puri- 
tans dissimilar.  But  stern  and  unbending  sectaries,  as  they  were, 
they  builded  better  than  they  knew  when  they  established  in 
Boston  in  1635  the  first  free  public  Latin  school,  the  beginning  of 
the  American  public  school  system.  Intended  to  train  youth  for 
the  ministry,  this  school  steadily  expanded  to  larger  public  ser- 
vice and  became  the  exemplar,  as  it  was  the  prototype,  of  our  free 
public  schools  of  today.  The  bigoted,  intolerant,  greatminded, 
bravehearted  hierocratic  colonists  devised  and  set  into  operation 
an  effective  mechanism  by  which  alone  democracy  could  be 
evolved.  The  mechanism  of  the  free  public  grammar  school  was 
their  contribution  to  thought  extension.  Its  establishment  led 
directly  to  the  next  step  in  Americanization,  obligatory  free  pub- 
lic schooling,  which  in  turn  made  thought  sharing  general  and 
inevitable. 

Out  from  the  search  for  liberty  to  worship  God  in  one  narrow 
fashion  there  evolved  thru  wider  schooling  increasing  religious 
toleration.  From  greater  toleration  in  religious  belief  came  the 
demand  for  political  liberty,  and  especially  for  representation  of 
the  individual  in  government.  The  rebellious  cry  of  the  Amer- 


AMERICANISM  57 

ican  people  was  voiced  by  Patrick  Henry  in  his  demand  "Give 
me  Liberty  or  give  me  Death." 

American  in  1776  meant  government  by  representation  of  all 
who  possessed  the  suffrage,  but  the  bond-servant,  the  slave,  and 
women  had  no  vote  and  two  thirds  of  all  the  people  were  unable 
to  read  and  write.  It  was  in  fact  an  oligarchy  or  government 
of  the  many  by  the  few. 

As  the  country  grew,  desire  for  schooling  grew,  academies 
were  planted  everywhere,  colleges  were  founded,  interest  in 
books  increased,  and  there  arose  the  conception  of  the  free  public 
library — a  direct  result  of  needs  created  by  the  demands  of  free 
public  schooling. 

The  free  public  school,  reinforced  by  the  free  public  library, 
became  a  united  mechanism,  for  universal  extension  and  sharing 
of  thought.  Freedom  of  thought  thus  shared  and  opportunity 
thus  opened  to  all  to  share  thought  implanted  a  fixed  determina- 
tion to  cut  out  of  the  body  politic  institutions  like  slavery,  which 
stifled  freedom  of  thought  and  fostered  classes  in  society  such  as 
never  could  become  sharers  in  thought  or  partakers  in  govern- 
ment. 

In  1861  Americanism  became  a  belief,  an  intense  desire,  not 
only  for  liberty  and  freedom,  but  for  union  and  a  more  liberal 
franchise.  It  was  seen  that  opportunity  for  individual  freedom 
demanded  organization  and  political  union.  As  a  means  for  pro- 
viding this  organization,  the  daily  press  in  the  hands  of  Horace 
Greeley  and  the  hero  joiirnalists  of  his  time  became  a  living 
entity,  a  strong  ally  of  the  public  school  and  the  public  library  in 
promoting  democracy.  Without  this  triad  mechanism  of  the 
school,  the  library,  and  the  press,  opportunity  for  individual  de- 
velopment, social,  industrial,  and  political,  could  not  have  become 
general. 

We  are  apt  to  think  of  the  democracy  of  Jefferson's  time  as 
being  representative  of  that  of  our  time  also,  but  we  do  not  rea- 
lize that  in  his  day  all  the  slave  population  and  nearly  one-half 
of  the  white  population  of  America  were  unable  to  read  and 
write.  Such  men  as  the  father  of  Lincoln  were  cut  off  by  illiter- 
acy from  participation  in  general  thought  of  their  time.  Jeffer- 
son's democracy  was  the  democracy  of  the  Aristotelian  philoso- 
phy and  the  slave-holding  democracies  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
democracy  restricted  by  wide-spread  illiteracy,  and  consequently 
democracy  only  of  the  few  who  were  able  to  share  thought. 

The  Americanism  of  Tom  Paine  was  opportunity  to  think  and 


58  AMERICANISM 

act.  The  Americanism  of  Hamilton  was  opportunity  for  personal 
privilege.  The  Americanism  of  Jefferson  was  opportunity  for 
party  action.  The  Americanism  of  Lincoln  was  opportunity  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people.  Today  through  in- 
ternational extension  of  the  idea  of  the  free  public  school,  the 
i  free  public  library,  and  the  free  press,  the  Americanism  of  Wil- 
son and  the  American  people  comes  to  mean  OPPORTUNITY  FOR 

HUMANITY  TO  THINK  AND  GROW   TOGETHER   IN   COMMUNISM  OF  EF- 
FORT BY  EACH  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  ALL. 

But  Americans  are  not  all  humanists.  We  still  retain  among 
us  the  sectarian,  the  libertarian,  the  party  worshipper,  the  na- 
tionalist, all  of  whom  represent  distinct  stages  in  the  growth  of 
Americanism.  Each  defines  Americanism  to  himself  in  terms 
peculiar  to  the  stage  which  he  historically  represents.  It  is  es- 
sential for  us  in  this  war  against  autocracy  to  picture  clearly 
these  many  sided  aspects  of  Americanism,  these  varied  stages  in 
growth  of  social,  political,  industrial,  religious,  and  scientific 
freedom  in  thought  sharing. 

We  may  affirm  truly  that  freedom  of  opportunity  in  the  shar- 
ing of  thought  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  Americanism,  but 
we  must  face  the  wide  diversity  in  Americanism  occasioned  not 
only  by  historic  growth,  but  through  geographic  and  climatic 
environment.  The  Bostonian  has  one  conception  of  American- 
ism, the  New  Yorker  another,  the  Washingtonian  and  the  Chi- 
cagoan  something  quite  different,  and  the  Texan  conception  again 
is  not  that  of  the  Californian. 

Becoming  Americanized  means  getting  to  be  like  Americans, 
and  thus  we  gain  infinite  variety  of  meaning  to  the  word,  as  well 
as  an  infinitude  of  charm,  and  naturally  a  fine  chance  for  dogma- 
tism and  debate.  If  all  this  is  true,  however,  we  may  regard  as 
pseudo-Americanization  the  illjudged  attempts  of  some  well- 
meaning  American-born  enthusiasts  to  fit  the  alien  to  a  Proc- 
rustean bed  of  his  own  stage  of  Americanism.  Are  there  not 
many  of  us  who  talk  much  of  Americanization,  who  although  of 
American  birth  and  ancestry  permit  ourselves  to  be  egoistic  in- 
tolerant, domineering,  and  autocratic  in  our  conception  of  Amer- 
icanism, disdainful  of  those  treasures  of  heritage  which  the 
foreign  born  continually  bring  to  our  shores  in  rich  abundance, 
and  ready  to  deride  these  new  gifts  as  "not  American"  because 
they  happen  to  be  new  to  us? 

It  has  been  said  that  America  is  a  melting  pot.     How  crude 


AMERICANISM  59 

the  simile,  although  dramatic,  and  how  untrue,  moreover  how 
opposed  to  biologic  fact.  Rather  is  America  a  glorious  garden 
where  racial  stocks  of  hardy  type  take  root,  and  in  richer  soil  by 
cross  fertilization  and  intensive  cultivation  develop  large  variety 
and  wonderful  fruitage.  Does  it  not  prophesy  well  for  the  future 
too,  that  foreign  human  plants  and  seeds  brought  to  this  great 
Garden  of  the  West  generally  do  take  root  here,  to  bloom  con- 
tinually and  so  to  add  their  mite  and  might  to  the  common  weal? 
Somehow  or  other,  by  the  process  of  Americanization,  by  suc- 
cessful modification  and  by  adaptation  to  new  conditions,  even 
human  prickly  pears  seem  to  lose  their  thorns,  and  poisonous 
human  varieties  generally  become  harmless. 

What  is  the  magic  wand  that  effects  this  transmutation?  Some 
deem  it  to  be  the  political  Constitution  of  our  country,  but  Eng- 
land's constitution  is  as  liberal  as  ours.  Some  would  say,  re- 
ligious toleration,  but  China  is  religiously  tolerant.  Some  might 
think  it  the  great  natural  resources  of  a  new  country,  but  Russian 
Siberia  offers  more  than  America.  Perhaps  the  suffragist  be- 
lieves it  is  because  American  women  have  here  a  greater  chance 
and  greater  rights,  but  little  Finland  is  our  superior  in  this  re- 
gard. 

No,  we  may  guess,  and  guess  again,  but  all  our  guesses  will 
be  in  vain  until  we  realize  that  America  is  truly  the  land  of  the 
free  for  the  reason  that  in  America,  and  in  America  alone,  is 
established  a  general  mechanism  and  system  whereby  everyone 
is  preferred  widest  opportunity  to  share  the  thought  of  all. 

It  was  in  America  where  the  free  public  school  originated  for 
the  common  benefit,  where  the  free  public  library  had  its  birth, 
where  the  linotype  and  rotary  press  were  invented  to  make  low 
cost  printing  possible,  and  so  to  render  the  news  print  page  a 
popular  necessity. 

America  is  the  only  land  where  free  obligatory  public  school- 
ing affords  equal  opportunity  to  all  to  progress  in  uninterrupted 
mental  expansion  from  kindergarten,  through  gradeschool,  high 
school,  and  college  to  the  technical  and  professional  school  at 
public  expense.  In  other  lands  this  opportunity  is  afforded  to 
some,  but  in  no  other  land  is  it  given  so  generally  as  a  birthright 
to  every  child. 

America  is  the  only  land  where  the  free  public  library,  that 
greatest  university  of  all  the  people,  no  longer  remains  a  mere 
store-house  of  knowledge  or  reservoir  of  learning,  but  rather  is 
a  powerful  dynamo  equipped  to  supply  mental  power  in  small  or 


60  AMERICANISM 

large  quantities  as  desired.  Its  trunk  wires  are  rapidly  being  ex- 
tended to  energize  every  occupation  and  interest  of  the  com- 
munity. Most  of  us  are  unaware  of  or  indifferent  to  this  exten- 
sion of  the  free  public  library  for  like  other  natural  growth 
processes  it  is  a  quiet  growth,  so  that  unless  we  have  lived  in 
foreign  lands,  we  cannot  realize  that  the  possession  of  the  public 
library  in  its  present  form  is  the  privilege  of  America  alone 
among  all  the  nations  of  the  world. 

It  is  because  the  free  public  school,  the  free  public  library, 
and  the  free  press  are  American  dynamos,  that  we  gain  power 
more  and  more  to  share  thought,  and  by  so  doing  give  promise 
of  true  democracy.  For  is  not  democracy  based  upon  ability  and 
opportunity  to  understand  one  another  and  so  to  grip  each  others 
aims,  purposes  and  meanings?  As  power  of  mutual  comprehen- 
sion is  based  upon  the  printed  word,  does  not  ability  of  all  to 
read  provide  trie  basis  of  democracy?  In  Russia,  for  instance, 
in  Mexico,  and  in  other  lands  where  the  literate  form  the  small 
minority  of  the  population,  democracy  is  a  plant  of  tender 
growth,  the  vitality  of  which  must  depend  mainly  upon  extension 
oi- schooling.  -Schooling  is  the  mechanism  of  thought  sharing. 
Democracy  must  possess  such  mechanism  for  sharing  thought, 
for  democracy  must  be  able  to  think  in  common  terms. 

The  spoken  word  of  course  is  another  potent  means  of  shar- 
ing thought  and  one  reason  why  Americanism  is  fraught  with 
power  is  because  no  country  has  so  many  millions  who  speak  the 
same  language.  We  rightly  lay  stress  on  teaching  English  to 
foreigners  in  order  that  diversity  of  tongues  may  not  shatter  our 
Babel  tower,  but  since  the  printed  word  is  more  potent  than  the 
spoken  word  because  it  reaches  further  and  conveys  richer  mean- 
ings, so  our  Americanization  depends  for  its  full  worth  upon 
wholly  removing  the  hindrance  and  stigma  of  foreign  illiteracy 
as  well  as  that  of  the  native  born.  When  each  person  in  the 
United  States,  barring  only  the  mentally  defective,  is  enabled 
through  the  force  of  an  aroused  public  opinion  and  higher  stand- 
dards  of  industrial  management  to  be  enabled  to  read  and  write, 
then  for  the  first  time  may  we  talk  rightfully  and  purposefully 
of  complete  Americanization.  In  the  Empire  State  alone  there 
are  today  a  half  million  illiterate  whites,  in  Pennsylvania,  three 
hundred  thousand.  The  manufacturing  States  of  the  North  may 
be  termed  the  Black  Belt  of  the  North  for  in  their  population 
are  two  million  adults  who  cannot  read  or  write. 


AMERICANISM  01 

Among  a  people  who  steadily  extend  their  general  mechanism 
for  sharing  thought,  nothing  can  impede  thought  sharing.  Clear 
thinking  on  this  matter  is  essential  to  right  planning,  if  ever  there 
is  to  be  a  just  and  lasting  peace.  For  instance,  it  has  been  said 
and  properly  that  a  nation's  force  depends  upon  its  health  and 
freedom  from  disease,  but  what  advocate  of  public  health  educa- 
tion has  not  found  his  best  efforts  balked  through  mere  inability 
to  read  simple  health  notices  and  sanitary  instructions?  In  in- 
dustry what  manager  has  not  failed  in  attaining  his  largest  aims 
because  of  friction,  misunderstanding,  or  strife  engendered 
through  inability  of  illiterate  workers  to  comprehend  a  simple 
work  direction  or  even  a  danger  signal.  What  political  boss  has 
failed  to  find  advantage  for  himself  at  public  cost  by  exploiting 
the  votes  of  an  illiterate  electorate  ?  Is  it  not  among  the  densely 
unschooled  that  exploitation  of  every  sort  exists?  Is  it  not  these 
who  suffer  chiefly  the  evils  resulting  from  poverty,  bad  housing, 
contaminated  food,  congestion,  infant  mortality,  child  labor, 
alcoholism,  and  crime,  and  who  will  say  that  any  of  these  evils 
we  are  glad  to  term  American?  We  would  not  indeed  think  of 
the  crowded  slums  and  their  attendant  evils  as  typically  American 
but  rather  of  the  decent  individual  home?  This  suffering  is  not 
confined  to  the  illiterate  but  extends  reflexly  to  the  literate 
themselves.  It  is  not  then  possible  for  all  Americans  to  strengthen 
the  three  basic  forces  of  true  Americanism,  the  free  obligatory 
public  school,  the  free  public  library,  and  the  free  press,  in  giving 
ability  and  opportunity  to  read,  write  and  speak  a  common  lan- 
guage, and  thus  to  enable  thought  to  be  shared  in  common? 

The  deepening  current  of  American  life  bids  fair  to  swreep  as 
a  mighty  flood  throughout  the  world.  Study  of  our  immigration 
to  foreign  countries  as  contrasted  with  immigration  to  this  coun- 
try, reveals  millions  of  sturdy  immigrants,  who  have  returned  to 
their  homes  from  America.  Through  their  industry  and  econ- 
omies, they  have  been  enabled  to  send  a  quickening  stream  of 
material  wealth  back  to  their  home  countries,  but  of  immensely 
greater  import  to  the  democracy  of  the  world  has  been  the  good 
news,  the  gospel  of  opportunity  for  all  to  know,  which  having 
been  learned  in  America,  they  have  sent  or  brought  to  their  home 
countries.  Moreover  it  is  in  America  that  they  have  discovered 
the  potent  mechanism  for  uprooting  autocracy  and  thereby  elim- 
inating serfdom,  and  as  they  have  gone  back  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  to  the  lands  of  their  birth  in  the  Orient,  the  Occident 


62  AMERICANISM 

and  the  Antipodes,  they  have  carried  with  them  everywhere  the 
American  idea  of  the  free  public  school,  the  free  public  library, 
and  the  American  newspaper,  and  thus  while  they  may  have  re- 
tained their  racial  traits,  their  racial  language,  and  their  racial 
customs,  nevertheless,  by  means  of  this  mechanism,  they  them- 
selves have  become  Americanized,  and  everywhere  as  earnest 
disciples  are  promoting  true  Americanism  by  extending  these 
means  of  sharing  thought.  In  this  sense  our  emigrants  from 
America  have  become  the  revolutionists  of  Russian  and  the  ed- 
ucators of  Japan  and  China.  They  have  awakened  all  lands  to 
greater  conceptions  of  liberty  and  wider  humanism,  arid  now  are 
extending  through  the  war  a  helping  hand  to  the  victims  of  autoc- 
racy and  privilege. 

To  end  Slavery  of  the  mind,  to  promote  mutual  understand- 
ing in  the  service  of  each  for  all  and  all  for  each  is  our  gospel 
of  Americanism,  the  Faith  that  is  in  us. 

Printed,  in  part,  in  Forum,  November,  1917. 


BROTHERHOOD   IN   AMERICA 
STEPHEN  S.  WISE 

IMMIGRANT  LEADER,  RABBI,  AMERICAN 

Remember  that  in  this  land  of  ours  all  the  races,  all  the 
peoples,  all  the  faiths  of  the  world,  are  being  brought  together 
and  are  being  fused  into  one  great  and  indivisible  whole,  as  if  to 
prove  that,  if  men  will  but  come  near  enough  together  to  know 
one  another,  whatever  their  nationality,  their  race,  their  religion, 
hatred  and  ill-will  and  prejudice  and  all  uncharitableness  are 
sure  to  pass  away.  Herein  let  America  pioneer.  Our  country 
seems  destined  in  the  Providence  of  God  to  be  the  meeting 
place  of  all  the  peoples,  to  be  the  world's  experimental  station  in 
brotherhood — all  of  us  learning  that  other  nations  are  not  bar- 
barians, that  other  races  are  not  inferior,  that  other  faiths  are 
not  Godless.  ffl 

From  Address  at  Young  People's  Meeting  of  National  Arbitration  and 
Peace  Congress,  New  York,  1907. 


AMERICANISM  63 


THE  MEANING  OF  OUR   FLAG 
JOHN  B.  TORBERT 

UNITED    STATES    GEOLOGICAL    SURVEY 

Expressive  symbolism  was  the  object  aimed  at  by  the  early 
patriots  in  the  various  flags  under  which  Americans  fought,  and 
it  was  not  until  some  time  after  the  adoption  by  Congress  of  a 
uniform  standard  for  the  armies  and  navies  of  the  colonies  that 
they  entirely  gave  place  to  the  national  emblem.  The  Pine-tree 
flag,  the  Rattlesnake  flag,  the  Liberty  or  Death  flag,  the  Crescent 
flag  are  examples  of  the  most  prominent  among  the  great  many 
and  diverse  flags  that  were  used. 

There  were  thirteen  separate  colonies  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board of  North  America,  each  differing  materially  in  its  laws 
and  political  organization  from  all  the  others.  There  never  has 
been  a  time  when  our  population  has  not  been  complex.  The 
American  people  as  a  distinctive  nationality  was  a  composite 
fabric,  whose  warp  was  of  English  origin,  but  whose  woof  came 
from  every  European  country.  Only  the  combination  of  peoples, 
climate,  productive  waters,  and  fertile  soil,  found  here  in  com- 
bination, could  produce  the  hardy  type  of  American  genius.  The 
virtuous  Huguenot,  the  thrifty  Swede,  the  frugal  Scotchman,  the 
industrious  German,  and  the  generous  but  turbulent  Irishman, 
were  woven  into  a  nation  by  the  pertinacity  and  dominant 
strength  of  the  English  character. 

Using  three  flags  to  represent  three  stages  in  the  development 
of  our  national  emblem  we  will  begin  with  the  red  ensign  as  the 
one  universally  used  by  the  English  merchant  vessels  of  that  day. 
It  was  the  flag  that  played  a  most  important  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  National  flag,  forming,  as  it  does,  the  basis  for  the 
Stars  and  Stripes. 

On  this  hitherto  red  ensign  were  placed  six  stripes  that  are 
significant  from  a  historic  point  of  view*  representing  the  six 
European  countries  from  which  America  had  been  chiefly 
peopled,  whose  descendants  were  now  fighting,  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  as  one  people  in  recognition  of  the  principle  that  "The 
cause  of  Boston  is  the  cause  of  us  all."  It  was  known  as  "The 
Grand  Union  Flag"  from  the  union  under  its  folds  of  so  many 

*  History  of  the  U.  S.,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  1881,  p.  198;  Manu- 
scripts in  Library  of  Congress;  History  of  the  Great  Seal  of  U.  S. 


64  AMERICANISM 

different  stocks  of  people  in  a  common  cause  against  injustice 
and  oppression. 

In  placing  these  six  white  stripes  on  the  flag  seven  spaces  of 
the  original  red  were  of  course  left  which  gave  the  whole  num- 
ber of  bars  or  stripes  as  representing  also  the  thirteen  colonies 
in  armed  resistance  to  the  tyranny  and  oppression  of  Great 
Britain.  The  Union  Jack,  the  crosses  of  St.  George  and  St. 
Andrew  were  retained  in  the  upper  corner  to  signify  the  yet 
recognized  sovereignty  of  England.  This  flag  was  raised  for  the 
first  time  over  the  camp  at  Cambridge  on  January  I  or  2,  1776, 
when  Washington  first  took  command  of  our  combined  armies. 

Thus  a  change  was  made  on  the  British  commercial  red  en- 
sign as  a  base  and  the  first  step  was  taken  towards  that  distinc- 
tive American  flag  as  we  know  it  to-day,  the  most  beautiful  stan- 
dard that  was  ever  thrown  to  the  breeze. 

In  stating  the  causes  for  which  they  took  up  arms*  Congress 
declared  that  they  had  "no  wish  to  separate  from  the  mother 
country,  but  only  to  maintain  their  charter  rights,"  and  "We 
have  not  raised  armies  with  ambitious  designs  of  separating  from 
Great  Britain  and  establishing  independent  States.  We  fight  not 
for  glory  nor  for  conquest.  .  .  .  Honor,  justice  and  humanity 
forbid  us  tamely  to  surrender  the  freedom  which  we  received 
from  our  gallant  ancestors,  and  which  our  innocent  posterity 
have  a  right  to  receive  from  us.  In  our  native  land,  and  in 
defense  of  the  freedom  which  is  our  birthright,  and  which  we 
have  ever  enjoyed  till  the  late  violation  of  it,  for  the  protection 
of  our  property,  acquired  solely  by  the  honest  industry  of  our 
forefathers  and  ourselves,  against  violence  actually  offered,  we 
have  taken  up  arms.  We  shall  lay  them  down  when  hostilities 
shall  cease  on  the  part  of  the  aggressor,  and  all  danger  of  their 
being  renewed  shall  be  removed,  and  not  before." 

In  thus  stating  the  grievances  that  had  forced  them  to  take  up 
arms,  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain  was  still  recognized. 
This  together  with  the  great  forbearance  on  the  part  of  our  fore- 
fathers is  one  of  the  great  lessons  that  is  graphically  illustrated 
in  coming  to  a  complete  understanding  of  our  flag. 

The  arbitrary  disposition  of  Great  Britain  in  refusing  to  yield 
to  the  just  claims  of  the  colonies,  together  with  the  manner  in 
which  the  remonstrances  of  the  colonies  were  received  and 
treated  by  the  King  and  Parliament,  extinguished  all  hopes  that 

*  Journal  of  Continental  Congress,  Ford,  Vol.  2,  p.    155. 


AMERICANISM  65 

had  been  previously  entertained  in  America  of  an  ultimate  recon- 
ciliation with  the  mother  country.  The  feeling  had  now  become 
general  for  independence,  as  shown  in  General  Washington's 
letter  of  May,  1776.  He  wrote  from  the  headquarters  of  the 
army  then  at  New  York. 

"A  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain  is  impossible.  .  .  . 
When  I  took  command  of  the  army  I  abhorred  the  idea  of  inde- 
pendence ;  but  I  am  now  fully  satisfied  that  nothing  else  will 
save  us." 

In  recognition  of  this  now  almost  universal  feeling  the  elim- 
ination of  the  Union  Jack  from  the  flag  became  necessary  and 
was  happily  solved  by  the  substitution  of  thirteen  five-pointed 
stars  in  a  blue  field.  This  substitution  also  is  full  of  meaning  in 
that  each  star  is  equal  in  magnitude  with  every  other  star  and 
represented  each  State  on  a  parity  with  every  other  State.  The 
number  of  points  to  the  stars  is  also  significant  and  the  selection 
of  the  five-pointed  star  was  not  due  to  any  haphazard  or  snap 
judgment  but  was  the  result  of  careful  thought  wisely  con- 
cluded. 

As  time  passed  the  flag  was  changed  in  a  mistaken  attempt  to 
have  it  represent  not  the  origin  but  the  development  of  the  coun- 
try from  time  to  time.  In  the  changes  it  underwent  it  not  only 
lost  its  beauty  as  an  emblem  but  also  its  historic  symbolism. 
Fortunately  however,  through  the  patriotic  devotion  and  zeal  of 
a  gallant  naval  hero,  Captain  Samuel  Chester  Reed,  who  loved 
his  country  and  his  flag,  Congress  was  apprized  of  its  error  and 
the  mistakes  were  corrected.  In  the  corrective  legislation  on  the 
subject  the  historic  symbolism  was  preserved  while  at  the  same 
time  provision  was  made  for  the  representation  of  future 
growth  without  in  any  way  disfiguring  or  distorting  what  it  had 
always  stood  for. 

Through  a  mere  coincidence  the  stripes  took  on  a  double 
significance.  The  six  white  stripes  on  the  red  field  gave  a  total 
number  of  thirteen  red  and  white  which  now  represent  not  only 
the  European  origin  of  the  colonies  but  the  number  of  colonies 
that  rebelled  under  oppression  and  achieved  their  independence 
from  Great  Britain  after  a  long  and  bloody  struggle. 

The  colors  are  in  themselves  significant  coming  in  their  defini- 
tion to  us  from  very  ancient  times  when  red  was  used  to  dis- 
tinguish hardiness  and  valor;  white  stood  for  purity  and 
innocence  and  blue  signified  vigilance,  perseverance  and  justice. 


66  AMERICANISM 

A  correct  knowledge  of  "The  Meaning  of  Our  Flag"  will  re- 
veal why  we  are  a  Nation  of  patriots  of  one  country  and  one 
flag  indivisible;  it  absolutely  precludes  any  hyphenated  Ameri- 
canism. Any  division  of  allegiance  is  impossible  and  every 
American  is  an  American  from  the  ground  up. 

The  Flag  is  wonderful  in  origin,  interesting  in  meaning  and 
equally  beautiful  in  design,  in  symmetry,  and  in  sentiment. 

The  War  of  the  American  Revolution  established  our  flag. 
The  War  of  1812  maintained  and  strengthened  its  prestige  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  War  between  the  States  preserved 
it  in  its  integrity  and  the  War  with  Spain  planted  it  in  a  remote 
portion  of  the  earth  as  a  beacon  light  of  liberty  and  enlighten- 
ment to  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 

It  is  an  emblem  of  living  acts  and  constant  aspirations,  in 
unison  with  whose  waving  beauty  the  national  heart  throbs  and 
pulsates  in  defense  of  its  honor  and  in  the  spread  of  its  protect- 
ing influence  throughout  the  world. 

To  relate  the  story  of  the  origin  of  our  flag,  its  development 
and  meaning,  is  to  unfold  its  exalted  teachings  and  present  the 
whole  subject  in  its  supreme  beauty. 

Its  meaning  necessarily  has  its  beginning  in  the  graphic  sym- 
bolism of  the  early  colonial  flags  and  it  is  only  through  the  study 
of  the  smallest  details  of  the  unfolding  and  development  from 
stage  to  stage  that  anything  like  a  true  picture  of  the  signifi- 
cance and  meaning  of  its  component  parts  can  be  arrived  at. 

The  ideas  represented  in  the  different  symbols  of  our  flag  as 
eventually  adopted  were  the  result  of  growth,  development  and 
a  most  judicious  exercise  of  careful  selection  not  only  with  a 
view  to  its  aesthetic  beauty  but  for  the  historic,  geographic,  and 
symbolic  truth. 

It  was  evolved  amid  the  smoke  and  excitement  of  the  battle 
field  and  was  designed  with  a  view  of  the  past,  the  present,  and 
the  future,  and  in  itself  embodies  the  history  and  geographic 
origin  of  the  new  nation,  so  harmonized  that  it  is  only  with  strict 
attention  to  the  little  details  that  its  true  meaning  can  be  dis- 
cerned. 

A  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  the  different  symbols  of  the 
flag  not  only  has  interest  but  is  of  very  great  importance  in 
teaching  the  dominating  ability  and  strength  derived  from  the 
cosmopolitan  character  of  American  citizenship  and  the  conse- 
quent obligations  for  the  protection  and  uplifting  of  all  the 


AMERICANISM  67 

peoples  of  the  earth.  Nations,  creeds  and  colors,  diverse  and 
conglomerate  streams  of  blood  have  flowed  steadily  to  our 
shores;  they  step  in  and  are  lost  forever,  fused  into  one  dis- 
tinguished mass  called  the  American  people. 

The  stars  represented,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  flag, 
the  new  constellation  of  thirteen  States  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
hoard  of  North  America  that  had  united  in  armed  resistance  to 
injustice  and  oppression  imposed  upon  them  by  Great  Britain. 
As  new  States  have  been  admitted  into  the  Union  a  new  star  has 
taken  its  place  in  the  constellation  as  the  equal  of  every  star 
other  State.  By  concretion  and  subdivision  of  territory  into 
soverigns  States,  that  constellation  has  been  increased  to  forty- 
eight  stars  in  a  blue  field. 

The  white  stripes,  originally  represented  the  six  States  of 
Europe  from  which  the  Colonies  had  been  chiefly  peopled,  laid 
down  on  the  commercial  red  ensign  of  Great  Britain  showed  the 
welding  of  the  conglomerate  of  transported  European  nationali- 
ties into  a  compact  and  united  American  republic. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  through  the  rupture  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  North  American  colonies,  which  finally  re- 
sulted in  the  independence  of  the  latter,  there  was  a  final  and 
complete  parting  from  the  flags  of  the  parent  country.  On  the 
contrary,  the  old  flag  was  retained  as  a  base  with  modifications 
that  so  enhanced  its  beauty  and  gave  to  it  such  an  additional 
value  as  a  symbol  of  liberal  free  government  that  the  old  basal 
flag  is  obscured  and  lost  in  the  beauty  of  the  new  creation. 

The  geography  and  jurisprudence  of  the  civilized  world 
centers  in  its  makeup.  The  ideas  for  which  it  stands,  the  bless- 
ings which  it  typifies,  the  great  works  wrought  under  its  in- 
spiration constitute  the  grandest  chapter  in  the  history  of 
mankind  and  a  climax  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Our  flag  was  conceived  in  war  but  born  of  a  patriotism  that 
has  since  achieved  its  greatest  victories  as  triumphs  of  peace. 
Honorable  peace  was  the  first  and  only  desire  of  the  early  patri- 
ots, but  when  their  just  demands  for  redress,  were  treated  with 
scorn  by  the  monarch  to  whom  they  were  addressed,  a  new  con- 
stellation made  its  appearance  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  in 
our  flag.  The  drum  and  fife,  under  its  folds,  sounded  the  death 
knell  of  tyranny  among  the  nations.  Since  the  adoption  of  our 
flag  more  than  half  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  become  re- 


68  AMERICANISM 

publics  and  every  government  has  given  increased  liberty  and 
representation  to  its  people. 

The  Revolutionary  War  gave  birth  to  this  mighty  nation  and 
it  has  grown  and  waxed  strong  in  the  succeeding  years  of  its 
development  until  to-day  its  flag  floats  over  a  vast  territory  of 
the  choicest  portion  of  the  American  Continent,  extending  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Oceans  and  over  all  productive  tem- 
peratures from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  has 
also  planted  that  flag  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  as  a 
beacon  light  of  progress  and  humanity. 

As  honorable  peace  was  the  first  consideration  in  the  concep- 
tion of  our  flag,  so  has  it  always  been  the  fervent  desire  of  our 
people,  and  it  is  a  fact  to  be  proud  of  that  wherever  our  flag  has 
gone  as  the  emblem  of  sovereignty  it  has  proved  a  benefaction  to 
mankind. 

The  "Stars  and  Stripes"  is  magnificently  American  in  its 
significance  and  meaning  and  as  a  symbolic  emblem  of  national 
existence  and  development  we  could  have  nothing  else  so  beauti- 
ful and  inspiring  and  at  the  same  time  so  full  of  meaning,  to 
old  and  young  alike  whether  native  or  naturalized,  as  our  much 
loved  American  Flag. 

Address   to   the   Department   of  the   Interior  June    1915. 


"THE   AMERICAN    FLAG"  (1861) 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 
PREACHER,  AUTHOR,  ORATOR,  AMERICAN  LOYALIST 

THIS  nation  has  a  banner,  too;  and  until  recently  wherever 
it  streamed  abroad  men  saw  day-break  bursting  on  their  eyes. 
For  until  lately  the  American  flag  has  been  a  symbol  of  Liberty, 
and  men  rejoiced  in  it.  Not  another  flag  on  the  globe  had  such 
an  errand,  or  went  forth  upon  the  sea  carrying  everywhere,  the 
world  around,  such  hope  to  the  captive,  and  such  glorious  tidings. 
The  stars  upon  it  were  to  the  pining  nations  like  the  bright 
morning  stars  of  God,  and  the  stripes  upon  it  were  beams  of 
morning  light.  As  at  early  dawn  the  stars  shine  forth  even  while 
it  grows  light,  and  then  as  the  sun  advances  that  light  breaks 
into  banks  and  streaming  lines  of  color,  the  glowing  red  and 
intense  white  striving  together,  and  ribbing  the  horizon  with  bars 


AMERICANISM  69 

effulgent,  so,  on  the  American  flag,  stars  and  beams  of  many- 
colored  light  shine  out  together.  And  wherever  this  flag  comes, 
and  men  behold  it,  they  see  in  its  sacred  emblazonry  no  ramping 
lion,  and  no  fierce  eagle;  no  embattled  castles,  or  insignia  of 
imperial  authority;  they  see  the  symbols  of  light.  It  is  the  ban- 
ner of  Dawn.  It  means  Liberty,  and  the  galley  slave,  the  poor, 
oppressed  conscript,  the  trodden-down  creature  of  foreign 
despotism,  sees  in  the  American  flag  that  very  promise  and  pre- 
diction of  God — "The  people  which  sat  in  darkness  saw  a  great 
light;  and  to  them  which  sat  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death 
light  is  sprung  up." 

"Thou  hast  given  a  banner  to  them  that  fear  thee,  that  it  may 
be  displayed." 

And  displayed  it  shall  be.  Advanced  full  against  the  morning 
light,  and  borne  with  the  growing  and  the  glowing  day,  it  shall 
take  the  last  ruddy  beams  of  the  night,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
wave,  clear  across  with  eagle  flight  to  the  Pacific,  that  banner 
shall  float,  meaning  all  the  liberty  which  it  has  ever  meant! 
From  the  North,  where  snows  and  mountain  ice  stand  solitary, 
clear  to  the  glowing  tropics  and  the  Gulf,  that  banner  that  has 
hitherto  waved  shall  wave  and  wave  forever — every  star,  every 
band,  every  thread  and  fold  significant  of  Liberty ! 

And  now  God  speaks  by  the  voice  of  his  providence,  saying, 
"Lift  again  that  banner!  Advance  it  full  and  high!"  To  your 
hand,  and  to  yours,  God  and  your  country  commit  that  imperish- 
able trust.  You  go  forth  self-called,  or  rather  called  by  the 
trust  of  your  countrymen  and  by  the  Spirit  of  your  God,  to  take 
that  trailing  banner  out  of  the  dust  and  out  of  the  mire,  and  lift 
it  again  where  God's  rains  can  cleanse  it,  and  where  God's  free 
air  can  cause  it  to  unfold  and  stream  as  it  has  always  floated 
before  the  wind.  God  bless  the  men  that  go  forth  to  save  from 
disgrace  the  American  flag! 

Accept  it,  then,  in  all  its  fulness  of  meaning.  It  is  not  a 
painted  rag.  It  is  a  whole  national  history-.  It  is  the  Constitu- 
tion. It  is  the  government.  It  is  the  free  people  that  stand  in 
the  government  on  the  Constitution.  Forget  not  what  it  means ; 
and  for  the  sake  of  its  ideas,  rather  than  its  mere  emblazonry, 
be  true  to  your  country's  flag.  By  your  hands  lift  it;  but  let 
your  lifting  it  be  no  holiday  display.  It  must  be  advanced 
"because  of  the  truth" 

From  Freedom  and    War,  Boston.    1863. 


PART  II 

ESSENTIALS  OF  AMERICANIZATION 


AMERICANIZATION 

WINTHROP  TALBOT 

In  the  strife  of  new  forms  of  government  with  old,  in  the 
clash  of  democracy  with  autocracy,  the  great  new  constructive 
force  is  Americanization— extension  of  American  ideas  without 
racial  or  geographic  limit — partaking  with  all  peoples  at  home 
and  abroad  in  essential  Americanism. 

Americanization  is  the  process  of  sharing  in  and  promoting 
the  ideals,  aims,  activities,  and  practice  of  basic  American  gov- 
ernmental principles,  American  freedom  of  thought,  American 
schooling  and  language,  and  the  best  manners,  habits,  and  cus- 
toms, of  America. 

Americanization  advocates  the  rights  claimed  in  our  political 
constitution,  free  public  schooling  which  is  obligatory  and  uni- 
;versal,  the  free  public  library,  and  the  free  press.  It  implies  a 
common  language  for  Americans  and  a  rich  vocabulary  of 
thought  exchange. 

Americanization  is  broad  in  scope  for  it  includes  the  pleasures 
and  relaxations  of  recreation  and  wholesome  fun  as  much  as 
the  pains  and  concentrations  of  industry.  American  games  and 
sports  are  as  truly  typical  as  are  American  modes  of  conducting 
business,  manufacture,  and  scientific  procedure.  So  universal  is 
the  scope  of  Americanization  and  so  requisite  is  it  becoming  to 
civilization  that  our  conception  of  its  meaning  should  be  equally 
broad.  We  should  not  be  bound  by  preconceived  notions  de- 
rived soley  from  limited  personal  experiences  and  narrow  indi- 
vidual prejudice.  Americanization  is  based  upon  socialized 
thinking.  The  outgoing  American  spirit  has  already  expressed 
itself  in  a  freer  Russia,  it  is  evidenced  by  increasing  representa- 
tion in  government  among  widely  separated  peoples,  and  in  grow- 
ing recognition  of  the  world  right  to  share  thought,  experience, 
and  aspiration. 

Most  important  of  all,  Americanization  always  implies  obli- 
gation; free  choice  determines  its  acceptance,  and  its  extension } 
must     come     through     avenues     of   intelligent   comprehension' 
rather    than    through    physical    or    governmental      domination. 


74  AMERICANIZATION 

Only  as  we  broaden  our  own  conception  of  Americanization  may 
we  become  fully  aware  of  its  relations  to  world  progress,  and 
appreciate  the  immensity  of  the  field  open  to  its  forces. 

Problems  of  Americanization 

The  problems  of  Americanization  usually  are  conceived  as 
questions  of  assimilation  of  the  European  alien,  and  this  book 
devotes  space  proportionately  to  the  technic  of  Americanization 
in  this  field.  But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  America  of  to 
day  has  taken  over  also  the  assimilation  of  the  Negro,  the  Indian . 
the  Creole,  the  Filipino,  the  Porto  Rican,  the  natives  of 
Alaska,  of  Haiti,  of  San  Domingo,  of  the  Virgin  Islands,  and  of 
Hawaii,  as  well  as  large  numbers  of  Mexican  peons,  and  a  few 
hundred  thousand  Chinese,  Nipponese  and  other  Asiatic  immi- 
grants. It  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  that  we  have  not  yet  really 
set  ourselves  to  work  in  earnest  at  Americanizing  some  of  our 
native-born,  for  example  the  isolated  mountain  whites  of  Ken- 
tucky and  West  Virginia,  the  dwellers  in  the  flatlands  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  the  decadents  and  defectives  of  the  New 
England  Hinterland,  the  absentee  director  in  industry,  and  the 
insulated  devotee  to  wealth  and  class. 

These  comprise  some  of  our  home  problems  in  Americaniza- 
tion. Steadily  year  by  year,  and  decade  by  decade,  we  find  our- 
selves as  a  people  becoming  gradually  welded  into  a  greater 
unity  American  ideals  while  varied  in  the  extreme  no  longer  are 
in  open  and  angry  conflict  as  in  the  days  of  the  Civil  War,  and 
we  are  becoming  likeminded  in  our  aims  and  purposes  as  a  peo- 
ple. The  Civil  War  united  us ;  the  World  War  is  unifying  us. 

Forces  of  Americanization 

When  we  enumerate  the  forces  of  Americanization  we  per- 
ceive that  they  are  varied  in  kind  and  inclusive  in  type.  They 
comprise  first  those  agencies  which  promote  ability  to  share 
thought — namely  the  free  public  school,  the  free  library,  the  free 
press.  Of  these  agencies  the  free  public  school  is  of  prime  im- 
portance. 

Physical  environment  and  the  presence  and  influence  of 
American  life  itself  are  the  next  most  effective  agents  of  Amer- 
icanization, because  the  habits  of  mankind  are  formed  largely 
through  imitation.  Thus  we  are  led  to  a  consideration  of  the 


AMERICANIZATION  75 

detailed  aspects  of  American  life,  our  means  of  rapid,  cheap, 
and  extensive  transportation  through  wide  territories  by  means 
of  railway  and  steamer  travel,  the  trolley  car,  automobile,  ferry, 
and  despised  but  useful  "Jitney."  Every  increase  in  mobility 
induces  a  more  complete  Americanism. 

Americanization  is  fostered  not  only  by  extension  of  thought 
through  travel  but  by  general  use  of  conveniences  for  communi- 
cation of  ideas  such  as  the  telephone,  telegraph,  and  postal 
facilities  in  contrast  with  their  limited  availability  and  use  in 
other  lands. 

Societies,  fraternities,  and  orders  play  a  large  role  in  Ameri- 
canization, for  the  American  is  primarily  arid  preeminently  a 
"joiner." 

American  games  and  sports,  "movies,"  and  vaudevilles  should     K 
be  included  among  the  forces  of  Americanization. 

The  improved  conditions  which  mark  modern  American  em- 
ployment and  extension  of  labor  organization  do  much  to  pro- 
mote Americanization. 

Churches,  Sunday  schools,  and  charitable  organizations,  are 
also  important. 

Finally  the  ballot  box  and  all  that  this  implies  "in  posse"  if 
not  "in  esse"  signifies  more  than  all  other  agents  save  the  public 
school.  Manhood  and  womanhood  suffrage  form  in  fact  the 
aegis  of  Americanism;  however  ineffective  through  complexity, 
shadowed  by  ignorance  and  stupidity,  or  bound  by  selfishness 
and  cupidity,  the  power  of  the  ballot  becomes  ever  stronger  as 
we  learn  to  use  it. 

Our  political  constitution  affords  the  means  for  ultimate 
freedom  in  the  play  of  the  forces  of  Americanization,  for  our 
American  Constitution  deliberately  renounces  the  power  to  legis- 
late concerning  specified  rights.  No  government  other  than  that 
of  the  United  States,  has  ever  admitted  that  there  exist  human 
rights  which  are  unalienable. 

Thus  no  other  form  of  government  stands  fully  for  the  rights 
of  humanity.  If  we  suffer  human  rights  to  be  invaded,  it  is  ouf 
own  fault,  not  the  fault  of  our  form  of  government,  and  out 
fault  may  be  rectified  only  by  cultivating  a  deeper  intelligence 
among  all  our  people.  May  it  be  said  that  we  do  stand  fully  for 
human  rights  when  we  continue  to  permit  six  million  of  our 
adults  to  remain  unable  to  read  and  write,  and  so  to  invite  that  ( 
every  exploitation  and  strife  which  Americanism  seeks  to  end? 


;6  AMERICANIZATION 

AMERICA 

WILLIAM  JAMES  DAWSON 
CLERGYMAN,  ENGLISH  IMMIGRANT,  LECTURER,  AUTHOR,  POET 

****** 

From  the  Volga  and  the  Tiber  and  the  Seas, 

From  the  lands  of  long  misrule  thy  children  come, 

And  thou  standest  like  a  Shepherd  by  the  fold 

And  numberest  thy  sheep  as  they  draw  home. 

From  the  ways  of  dearth  and  toil, 

From  the  hard  penurious  soil, 

Like  school-freed  children  glad  they  seek  thy  knees, 

And  find  wise  liberty  in  thy  decrees. 

No  more  disconsolate, 

They  grasp  a  larger  fate; 

Shall  they  falter?  Shall  they  find  thy  freedom  sure? 

Yea :  in  truth  they  shall  endure. 

From  the  sunset-lands  they  come,  and  from  the  East, 

From  the  Tagus,  and  the  Danube,  and  the  Rhine, 

From  the  waters  ploughed  by  Norsemen  in  their  pride, 

From  the  fiord  and  the  factory,  and  the  mine ; 

Behold  a  miracle! 

Within  thy  crucible 

The  cosmic  flame  that  challenges  the  sun 

Transfuses   million-varied   lives   to   one ! 

Nation  born  within  a  day, 

Shall  it  falter?     Shall  it  cease?  Shall  it  endure? 

O  nation,  young  and  gay, 

Yea :  it  standeth  very  sure. 

Where  the  workshop  flings  its  plumes  athwart  the  sky, 

Where  the  labouring  engines  groan  as  if  in  pain, 

Where  the  low  tree-cradled  cottage  dots  the  hill, 

Where  the  lonely  ranchman  rides  along  the  plain ; 

Where  the  Mississippi  flows, 

Where  the   Shasta  lifts  her  snows, 

Day  by  day  thy  far-flung  children  praise  thy  name, 

Forgetful  they  of  days  of  ancient  shame, 

Of  Emperors  and  Czars, 

Beneath  thy  flag  of  stars. 


AMERICANIZATION  77 

Shall  they  falter?     Shall  they  cease?     Shall  they  endure? 
Yea:  their  faith  is  very  sure. 

For  a  bitter  night  and  day  they  shall  be  tried, 

They  shall  moan  within  the  cruel  hand  of  greed; 

But  even  when  the  wrong  has  wrought  its  worst 

Shall  arise  Redeemers  answering  to  their  need. 

From  some  backwood  Bethlehem 

Their   Christ  shall  come  to  them; 

Thro'  the  roaring  hells  of  Mammon,  by  the  path 

Of  mocking  Calvaries,  he  shall  pass  on  in  his  wrath, 

Till  his  hands  have  hewn  the  way 

To  the  daylight  and  the  Day. 

Shall  he  falter  in  the  strife?     Shall  he  endure? 

Nay :  his  step  is  very  sure. 

Where  the  school-house  banner  flaunts  the  morning  breeze, 
Where  the  rough  farm  student  strides  amid  the  wheat, 
Where  the  voice  of  knowledge  fills  a  thousand  halls, 
Where  the  athletes  in  their  mimic  warfare  meet; 
Where  the  master  grasps  the  brand 

Of  lightning  in  his  hand, 

And  the  hidden  Powers  of  Air  to  service  bent 
Proclaim  the  issue  of  the  long  experiment, 
I  behold  the  future  race 
Arise  in  strength  and  grace; 

Shall  they  falter?  Shall  they  fail?  Shall  they  endure? 
Lo,  the  onward  march  is  sure. 

****** 

America  and  other  poems,  pp.  14-19.  New  York.  John  Lane  Company.  1914. 


78  AMERICANIZATION 


THE  MEANING  OF  CITIZENSHIP 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  NEWLY  NATURALIZED  CITIZENS 
PHILADELPHIA,  MAY  IO,  IQI5 

WOODROW  WILSON 
PRESIDENT' OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

This  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  which  experiences 
constant  and  repeated  rebirth.  Other  countries  depend  upon  the 
multiplication  of  their  own  native  people.  This  country  is  con- 
stantly drinking  strength  out  of  new  sources  by  the  voluntary 
association  with  it  of  great  bodies  of  strong  men  and  forward- 
looking  women  of  other  lands.  And  so  by  the  gift  of  the 
free  will  of  independent  people  it  is  being  constantly  renewed 
from  generation  to  generation  by  the  same  process  by  which  it 
was  originally  created.  It  is  as  if  humanity  had  determined  to 
see  to  it  that  this  great  Nation,  founded  for  tfie  benefit  of 
humanity,  should  not  lack  for  the  allegiance  of  the  people  of  the 
world. 

You  have  just  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States.  Of  allegiance  to  whom?  Of  allegiance  to  no  one,  unless 
it  be  to  God — certainly  not  of  allegiance  to  .those  who  temporar- 
ily represent  this  great  Government.  You  have  taken  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  a  great  ideal,  to  a  great  body  of  principles,  to  \ 
a  great  hope  of  the  human  race.  You  have  said,  "We  are  going ! 
to  America  not  only  to  earn  a  living  not  only  to  seek  the  things 
which  it  was  more  difficult  to  obtain  where  we  were  born,  but 
to  help  forward  the  great  enterprises  of  the  human  spirit — to  let 
men  know  that  everywhere  in  the  world  there  are  men  who  will 
cross  strange  oceans  and  go  where  a  speech  is  spoken  which  is 
alien  to  them  if  they  can  but  satisfy  their  quest  for  what  their 
spirits  crave ;  knowing  that  whatever  the  speech  there  is  but  one 
longing  and  utterance  of  the  human  heart,  and  that  is  for  liberty 
and  justice."  And  while  you  bring  all  countries  with  you,  you 
come  with  a  purpose  of  leaving  all  other  countries  behind  you — 
bringing  what  is  best  of  their  spirit,  but  not  looking  over  your 
shoulders  and  seeking  to  perpetuate  what  you  intended  to  leave 
behind  in  them.  I  certainly  would  not  be  one  even  to  suggest 
that  a  man  cease  to  love  the  home  of  his  birth  and  the  nation  of 
his  origin.  These  things  are  very  sacred  and  ought  not  to  be 


AMERICANIZATION  79 

put  out  of  our  hearts,  but  it  is  one  thing  to  love  the  place  where 
you  were  born  and  it  is  another  thing  to  dedicate  yourself  to  the 
place  to  which  you  go.  You  can  not  dedicate  yourself  to  Amer- 
ica unless  you  become  in  every  respect  and  with  every  purpose  of 
your  will  thorough  Americans.  You  can  not  become  thorough 
Americans  if  you  think  of  yourselves  in  groups.  America  does 
not  consist  of  groups.  A  man  who  thinks  of  himself  as  Belong- 
ing to  a  particular  national  group  in  America  has  not  yet  become 
an  American,  and  the  man  who  goes  among  you  to  trade  upon 
your  nationality  is  no  worthy  son  to  live  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes. 

My  urgent  advice  to  you  would  be  not  only  always  to  think 
first  of  America,  but  always  also  to  think  first  of  humanity.  You 
do  not  love  humanity  if  you  seek  to  divide  humanity  into  jealous 
camps.  Humanity  can  be  welded  together  only  by  love,  by  sym- 
pathy, by  justice,  not  by  jealousy  and  hatred.  I  am  sorry  for  the 
man  who  seeks  to  make  personal  capital  out  of  the  passions  of 
his  fellow-men.  He  has  lost  the  touch  and  ideal  of  America,  for 
America  was  created  to  unite  mankind  by  those  passions  which 
lift  and  not  by  the  passions  which  separate  and  debase.  We 
came  to  America,  either  ourselves  or  in  the  persons  of  our  an- 
cestors, to  better  the  ideals  of  men,  to  make  them  see  finer  things 
than  they  had  seen  before,  to  get  rid  of  the  things  that  divide  and 
to  make  sure  of  the  things  that  unite.  It  was  but  an  historical 
accident  no  doubt  that  this  great  country  was  called  the  "United 
States" ;  yet  I  am  very  thankful  that  it  has  that  word  "United" 
in  its  title,  and  the  man  who  seeks  to  divide  man  from  man, 
group  from  group,  interest  from  interest  in  this  great  Union  is 
striking  at  its  very  heart. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  circumstance  to  me,  in  thinking  of 
those  of  you  who  have  just  sworn  allegiance  to  this  great  Gov- 
ernment, that  you  were  drawn  across  the  ocean  by  some  beckon- 
ing finger  of  hope,  by  some  belief,  by  some  vision  of  a  new  kind 
of  justice,  by  some  expectation  of  a  better  kind  of  life.  No  doubt 
you  have  been  disappointed  in  some  of  us.  Some  of  us  are  very 
disappointing.  No  doubt  you  have  found  that  justice  in  the 
United  States  goes  only  with  a  pure  heart  and  a  right  purpose 
as  it  does  everywhere  else  in  the  world.  No  doubt  what  you 
found  here  did  not  seem  touched  for  you,  after  all,  with  the 
complete  beauty  of  the  ideal  which  you  had  conceived  before- 
hand. But  remember  this:  If  we  had  grown  at  all  poor  in  the 


8o  AMERICANIZATION 

ideal,  you  brought  some  of  it  with  you.  A  man  does  not  go  out 
to  seek  the  thing  that  is  not  in  him.  A  man  does  not  hope  for 
the  thing  that  he  does  not  believe  in,  and  if  some  of  us  have  for- 
gotten what  America  believed  in,  you,  at  any  rate,  imported  in 
your  own  hearts  a  renewal  of  the  belief.  That  is  the  reason  that 
I,  for  one,  make  you  welcome.  If  I  have  in  any  degree  forgotten 
what  America  was  intended  for,  I  will  thank  God  if  you  will  re- 
mind me.  I  was  born  in  America.  You  dreamed  dreams  of 
what  America  was  to  be,  and  I  hope  you  brought  the  dreams  with 
you.  No  man  that  does  not  see  visions  will  ever  realize  any 
high  hope  or  undertake  any  high  enterprise.  Just  because  you 
brought  dreams  with  you,  America  is  more  likely  to  realize 
dreams  such  as  you  brought.  You  are  enriching  us  if  you  came 
expecting  us  to  be  better  than  we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that  means.  It  means  that  Americans 
must  have  a  consciousness  different  from  the  consciousness  of 
every  other  nation  in  the  world.  I  am  not  saying  this  with  even 
the  slightest  thought  of  criticism  of  other  nations.  You  know 
how  it  is  with  a  family.  A  family  gets  centered  on  itself  if  it  is 
not  careful  and  is  less  interested  in  the  neighbors  than  it  is  in  its 
own  members.  So  a  nation  that  is  not  constantly  renewed  out 
of  new  sources  is  apt  to  have  the  narrowness  and  prejudice  of  a 
family;  whereas,  America  must  have  this  consciousness,  that  on 
all  sides  it  touches  elbows  and  touches  hearts  with  all  the  nations 
of  mankind.  The  example  of  America  must  be  a  special  ex- 
ample. The  example  of  America  must  be  the  example  not  merely 
of  peace  because  it  will  not  fight,  but  of  peace  because  peace  is 
the  healing  and  elevating  influence  of  the  world  and  strife  is  not. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being  too  proud  to  fight.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it  does  not  need 
to  convince  others  by  force  that  it  is  right. 

You  have  come  into  this  great  Nation  voluntarily  seeking 
something  that  we  have  to  give,  and  all  that  we  have  to  give  is 
this:  We  can  not  exempt  you  from  work;  no  man  is  exempt 
from  work  anywhere  in  the  world.  We  can  not  exempt  you  from 
the  strife  and  the  heartbreaking  burden  of  the  struggle  of  the 
day;  that  is  common  to  mankind  everywhere.  We  can  not  ex- 
empt you  from  the  loads  that  you  must  carry ;  we  can  only  make 
them  light  by  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  carried.  That  is  the 
spirit  of  hope,  it  is  the  spirit  of  liberty,  it  is  the  spirit  of  justice. 


AMERICANIZATION  Si 

When  I  was  asked,  therefore,  by  the  Mayor  and  the  commit- 
tee that  accompanied  him  to  come  up  from  Washington  to  meet 
this  great  company  of  newly  admitted  citizens  I  could  not  de- 
cline the  invitation.  I  ought  not  to  be  away  from  Washington, 
and  yet  I  feel  that  it  has  renewed  my  spirit  as  an  American  to  be 
here.  In  Washington  men  tell  you  so  many  things  every  day 
that  are  not  so,  and  I  like  to  come  and  stand  in  the  presence  of 
a  great  body  of  my  fellow  citizens,  whether  they  have  been  my 
fellow  citizens  a  long  time  or  a_short  time,  and  drink,  as  it  we££ 
out  of  the  common  fountains  with  them  and  go  back  feeling  what 
you  have  so  generously  given  me — the  sense  of  your  support  and 
of  the  living  vitality  in  your  hearts  of  the^  great  ideals  which 
have  made  America  the  hope  oT  trie  world. 


THE    FOREIGN-BORN    AMERICAN    CITIZEN 
GEORGE  A.  GORDON 

IMMIGRANT,    WRITER,    PROFESSOR,    MINISTER   OF   THE   OLD    SOUTH 
CHURCH,  BOSTON 

The  Republic  of  the  United  States  is  in  fact  a  nation  of 
immigrants,  a  nation  of  aliens.  All  have  made  the  great  migra- 
tion, all  have  come  hither  from  other  parts  of  the  earth.  The 
only  difference  among  Americans  is  that  some  came  earlier  while 
others  fame  later,  indeed  as  it  were  yesterday,  to  these  shores. 
The  only  aboriginal  American  is  the  Indian.  This  historical  fact 
should  be  forever  borne  in  mind.  We  came  hither  first  or  last, 
across  the  ocean,  and  from  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

There  is  however  a  ground  of  distinction  among  Americans ; 
they  are  rightly  divided  into  native  citizens  and  citizens  foreign 
born.  The  native  citizen  has  grown  into  the  being  of  the  society 
that  his  alien  ancestors  helped  to  form.  He  has  in  his  blood  an 
American  inheritance ;  his  instincts  have  been  fed  with  native 
food;  he  is  alive  to  nothing  else  as  he  is  to  the  American  Re- 
public. We  foreign-born  Americans  acknowledge  his  distinc- 
tion, we  rejoice  in  his  happiness,  we  count  ourselves  fortunate 
to  stand  with  him  in  the  great  communion  of  free  citizens.  We 
ask  him,  in  his  turn,  to  read  in  the  story  of  our  migration  the 
struggle  of  his  ancestors ;  we  remind  him  of  what  we  left  be- 


82  AMERICANIZATION 

hind,  what  we  brought  with  us,  and  at  what  cost  we  gained  our 
American  citizenship. 

In  the  words  that  I  have  chosen  as  my  text  [And  the  chief 
captain  answered,  With  a  great  sum  obtained  I  this  citizenship. — 
Acts  22 : 28]  we  have  a  foreign-born  Roman  citizen.  Exactly 
where  he  was  born  we  do  not  know;  we  do  know  that  he  was 
born  outside  Roman  citizenship.  He  was,  therefore,  an  adopted 
citizen  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  to  this  he  refers  in  the  words 
that  I  have  quoted,  "With  a  great  sum  obtained  I  this  citizen- 
ship." 

There  are  three  implications  in  these  words:  the  cost  of 
citizenship  to  this  man;  the  privilege  of  citizenship  to  him;  his 
duty  as  a  Roman  citizen.  These  three  points  will  be  a  convenient 
guide  to  us  in  our  discussion  of  the  subject,  The  Foreign-born 
American  Citizen. 

i.  First  of  all,  then,  there  is  the  cost  to  this  man  of  citizen- 
ship in  the  Roman  Empire.  He  obtained  it  with  a  great  sum; 
to  get  it  made  him  poor. 

There  are  few  among  native-born  American  citizens  who 
understand  the  sacrifice  made  by  foreign-born  citizens  of  the 
heritage  of  childhood  and  boyhood  in  the  wonder-world  of  early 
life.  There  is  the  bereavement  of  the  early  mystic,  unfathom- 
able touch  of  nature  that  comes  to  one  only  through  one's  na- 
tive land.  Never  again  to  see  the  sun  rise  and  set  over  the  dear 
old  hills,  with  the  hero's  mantle  like  the  bloom  of  the  heather 
resting  upon  them,  and  the  shadow  of  an  immemorial  race,  is 
truly  a  great  bereavement.  Never  again  to  see  the  green  pastures, 
with  the  flocks  quietly  feeding  in  them,  under  the  shade  of  the 
plot  of  trees  here  and  there  mercifully  provided  by  the  humanity 
of  previous  generations,  nor  to  hear  the  music  of  the  river  that 
has  sung  into  being  and  out  of  being  forty  generations  of  human 
lives;  never  again  to  see  the  fields  covered  with  corn,  nor  to 
hear  the  reaper's  song  among  the  yellow  corn ;  never  again  to 
see  the  light  that  welcomed  you  when  you  were  born,  that  smiled 
on  you  when  you  were  baptized,  that  went  with  you  to  school, 
that  watched  your  play,  that  constituted  the  beautiful,  the  glori- 
ous environment  of  your  early  days;  never  again  to  hear  the 
song  of  the  native  birds,  the  skylark  in  the  morning,  the  mavis 
at  nightfall,  and  the  wild  whistle  of  the  blackbird  under  the 
heat  of  noon  from  his  thorny  den — all  this  is  simply  an  inex- 
pressible bereavement.  Nature  is  inwoven  with  the  soul  in  its 


AMERICANIZATION  83 

earliest  years,  its  beauty,  its  wildness,  its  soul  becomes  part  of 
the  soul  of  every  deep-hearted  human  being,  and  never  again 
can  nature  be  seen  as  she  was  seen  through  the  wonder  of  life's 
morning. 

It  is  this  spell  of  nature  over  the  young  soul  that  gives  its 
exquisite  pathos  to  Hood's  world-familiar  melody: 

"I  remember,  I  remember, 

The  house  where  I  was  born, 

The  little  window  where  the  sun 

Came  peeping  in  at  morn; 

He  never  came  a  wink  too  soon, 

Nor  brought  too  long  a  day, 

But  now,  I  often  wish  the  night 

Had  borne  my  breath  away! 

****** 

"I  remember,  I  remember, 

The  fir  trees  dark  and  high ; 

I  used  to  think  their  slender  tops 

Were  close  against  the  sky: 

It  was  a  childish  ignorance, 

But  now  'tis  little  joy 

To  know  I'm  farther  off  from  heav'n 

Than  when  I  was  a  boy." 

There  it  is,  the  mystic,  divine  influence  of  nature  through 
the  atmosphere  of  the  country  of  one's  birth;  every  immigrant 
to  this  country  makes  that  great  surrender. 

There  is,  too,  the  early  humanity.  You  go  down-town,  you  who 
are  native-born  American  citizens,  and  every  day  you  meet  those 
whom  you  have  known  from  birth,  your  earliest  playmates  and 
schoolmates,  and  those  who  went  to  college  with  you,  who  en- 
tered business  with  you,  who  fought  side  by  side  with  you  through 
the  great  war,  revered  what  you  revered,  laughed  at  what  you 
laughed  at  and  felt  as  you  felt  over  the  glory  and  tenderness  of 
existence.  You  do  not  know  what  they  have  left  behind  them 
who  never  see  a  face  that  they  knew  in  childhood,  who  will  never 
meet  again,  till  time  is  no  more,  a  schoolmate  or  an  earlier  com- 
panion, who  will  never  gather  again  in  the  old  home  with  father 
and  mother  and  brothers  and  sisters ;  only  the  most  favored  have 
bad  a  fugitive  glance,  like  looking  at  a  telegraph  pole  from  an 


84  AMERICANIZATION 

express  train,  of  those  dear,  early  faces.  There  is  a  whole  world 
of  bereavement  of  early,  tender,  beautiful  humanity  on  the  part 
of  all  who  come  here.  And  this,  again,  you  hear  in  those  two 
verses  in  "Auld  Lang  Syne"  : 

"We  twa  hae  run  about  the  braes, 

And  pu'd  the  gowans  fine, 
But  we've  wandered  monie  a  weary  foot 

Sin'  auld  lang  syne. 
"We  twa  hae  paidl'd  in  the  burn 

From  morning  sun  till  dine, 
But  seas  between  us  braid  hae  roar'd 

Sin'  auld  lang  syne." 

There  is  one  other  surrender:  there  is  the  suffering  of  adjust- 
ment in  a  new  country.  The  first  year  I  spent  in  Boston,  from 
July,  1871,  to  considerably  more  than  July,  1872,  I  conceived  my 
condition  to  be  as  near  that  of  the  spirits  in  hell  as  anything  I 
could  imagine !  To  be  in  a  city  where  nobody  knew  you,  where 
you  knew  nobody,  where  so  many  wanted  to  take  advantage  of 
the  "greenhorn,"  to  laugh  at  him  if  he  ever  grew  for  a  moment 
a  bit  sentimental,  was  not  exactly  heaven.  Many  and  many  a 
time  I  went  down  to  the  wharf  to  see  the  ships  with  their  white 
sails,  written  all  over  with  invisible  tidings  from  the  far,  sunny 
islands  left  behind,  and  if  I  had  not  been  restrained  by  shame 
and  pride  I  should  have  gone  home.  That  is  the  experience  of 
the  Scandinavian,  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  Teuton,  Slav,  Armenian, 
Syrian,  and  Latin ;  the  bereavement  of  nature  and  early  human- 
ity is  deepened  by  the  sorrow  of  readjustment  in  a  foreign  land. 
"With  a  great  sum  obtained  we  this  citizenship";  few  under- 
stand it,  few  indeed.  Foreign-born  American  citizenship  is  pre- 
ceded by  a  vast  sacrifice,  and  you  never  can  understand  that  sort 
of  citizenship  till  you  take  an  account  of  this  really  profound 
experience. 

2.  The  next  thing  in  the  experience  of  the  chief  captain  was 
his  privilege  as  a  Roman  citizen.  His  station  and  bearing  and 
power  told  of  that  privilege.  He  was  a  military  tribune  in  the 
legion  stationed  in  Jerusalem;  he  had  risen  to  important  com- 
mand and  power  impossible  for  him,  inaccessible  to  him  if  he 
had  not  obtained  citizenship. 


AMERICANIZATION  85 

America  has  been  called  the  land  of  opportunity.  Look  at 
this  fact  in  three  directions  only,  since  time  will  allow  no  more. 
The  common  workman  may  become,  by  intelligence,  by  diligence 
and  by  fidelity,  the  master  workman.  Cast  your  eyes  over  the 
land  to-day  and  assemble  the  master  workmen  and  you  will  find 
that  the  vast  majority  of  them  have  risen  from  the  position  of 
ordinary  workmen  to  the  chief  places  in  their  trade  and  calling. 
Such  a  chance  for  ascension  in  a  broad  way  for  all  competent 
men,  in  the  Old  World,  is  a  simple  impossibility.  The  chance 
does  not  exist  there.  Men  rise  there  by  talent' and  by  luck,  by 
talent  and  by  favoritism.  But  here  in  a  broad  and  magnificent 
manner  they  rise  by  talent  and  industry,  fidelity  and  force; 
here  as  nowhere  else  they  have  a  chance  to  work  out  what  is 
in  them. 

Consider  this  in  the  things  of  intellect.  The  Old  World  calls 
us  an  uneducated  race.  It  is  true  that  we  have  not  many  great 
scholars ;  the  reason  is  that  we  are  engaged  with  immediate 
pressing  problems ;  we  apply  intelligence  to  living  issues  which 
in  other  lands  is  applied  to  the  Genitive  and  the  Accusative  and 
the  Dative  cases  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages.  When  we 
look  backward  and  consider  the  provision  made  for  the  intellect 
of  the  nation  during  the  last  fifty  years,  we  claim  that  there  is 
no  parallel  to  it  in  any  country  on  which  the  sun  shines.  More 
money  has  gone  to  colleges  and  schools  and  universities  for  men 
and  for  women,  open  to  all  talent  from  ocean  to  ocean  and 
from  the  Canadian  border  to  the  Gulf,  than  was  ever  dedicated 
to  education  in  the  same  length  of  time  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind. Not  only  is  there  provision  for  the  regulars  but  also  for 
the  irregulars;  all  sorts  of  evening  schools  flourish  in  our  cities 
where  the  first  teachers  of  the  community  are  available  for 
talented  and  aspiring  youth  of  slender  means.  Men  are  prac- 
ticing medicine  and  law ;  they  are  in  the  ministry  and  in  other 
professions,  usually  called  learned,  who  never  saw  the  inside  of 
a  college  or  university,  who  have  obtained  an  eduaction  in  what 
is  called  an  irregular  way,  from  and  by  the  very  men  who  are 
teaching  in  these  regular  academic  institutions. 

Let  me  remind  you  of  the  abundant  hospitality,  the  \vonderful 
generosity  of  the  American  people  toward  aspiring  youth.  Talent 
which  would  be  ignored  in  Great  Britain,  promise  which  would 
be  sneered  at  in  every  continental  country  in  Europe,  is  here 
discovered  and  encouraged  to  develop  into  power.  This  is  a 


86  AMERICANIZATION 

phenomenon  of  which  we  must  never  lose  sight,  the  chance  here 
in  the  United  States  for  a  man  to  be  intellectually  all  that  it  is 
possible  for  him  to  be.  The  best  teachers  may  often  be  seen 
here  wielding  the  educational  power  of  history  and  the  arts  to 
train  the  youth  to  whom  college  is  an  impossibility,  for  service 
requiring  eduacted  powers,  in  his  day  and  generation. 

There  is  to  be  noted  the  opportunity  in  the  war  of  character 
and  moral  influence  that  comes  to  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
What  does  that  mean  ?  The  chance  to  change  and  improve  the 
law  of  the  land,  the  chance  for  a  man  to  change  and  improve 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  the  chance  to  modify  in 
the  line  of  humanity  the  social  feeling  of  the  United  States. 
And  freedom  is  here  the  condition  of  all ;  it  is  the  breath  of  life ; 
every  man  who  complains  that  things  are  not  what  they  should 
he  has  a  chance  by  his  vote  to  remedy  the  abuse  and  to  take 
another  step  toward  the  ideal. 

Here  again  is  something  new,  measuring  it  against  the  whole 
people.  We  are  dupes  and  fools  when  we  allow  ourselves  to  be 
ruled  by  groups  in  this  country ;  we  are  free  men,  with  the  power 
in  our  hands.  If  we  have  moral  ideals  of  our  own,  and  moral 
character,  we  can  so  use  them  as  to  lift  the  character  of  the  land 
in  which  we  live. 

3.  Finally,  there  was  the  duty  of  the  tribune  as  a  Roman 
citizen.  Paul  was  about  to  be  bound  and  tortured,  without  trial, 
when  he  appealed  to  the  chief  captain,  "Is  it  lawful  for  you  to 
scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman  and  uncondemned?"  This 
startled  the  man.  "Tell  me,  art  thou  a  Roman?  Good  heavens, 
this  will  never  do!  I  am  pledged  to  do  my  duty!  Get  off  those 
shackles  and  set  the  man  free  and  guard  his  life!"  There  was 
the  man's  sense  of  his  duty. 

What  is  the  duty  of  foreign-born  American  citizens?  First  to 
learn  the  English  language  and  to  prefer  it  to  all  other  tongues 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  That  tongue  comes  in  the  splendor  of 
a  June  day,  it  breaks  over  life  like  a  June  sunrise,  with  an  atmos- 
phere, tone,  beauty,  and  power  for  which  Americans  must  ever 
be  unapproachable.  Let  no  American  citizen  hug  his  foreign 
tongue,  go  into  a  closet  with  it  and  shut  out  the  light  of  the 
great  English  language  which  carries  all  our  ideals  as  Americans ! 
The  very  vessel  of  the  Lord  it  is,  in  which  American  freedom  is 
carried,  the  language  of  Shakespeare  and'  Milton,  the  incompar- 
able free  man:  the  language  of  Bacon  and  Burke  and  Washing- 


AMERICANIZATION  87 

ton  and  Hamilton  and  Webster  and  Lincoln.  This  tongue  conse- 
crates the  immigrant  who  would  be  a  citizen;  he  can  never  be 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  without  that,  never.  This  is  the 
tongue  that  carries  in  a  unique  translation  the  literature  of 
Israel ;  the  Bible  is  the  maker  of  free  peoples. 

Next,  we  foreign-born  American  citizens  must  read  the  story 
of  the  Revolution  into  our  blood.  What  is  the  significance  of 
the  Revolution  for  the  foreign-born  American  citizen?  These 
men  were  Englishmen  or  the  sons  of  Englishmen ;  they  loved  the 
British  Isles  better  than  any  portion  of  the  earth's  surface,  ex- 
cept their  own  Colonies ;  they  loved  them  with  an  inexpressible 
love.  Yet  when  it  came  to  a  question  of  principle  they  stood 
out  and  said,  "We  must  be  free;  the  Colonies,  or  the  United 
States,  first!"  You  recall  Daniel  Webster's  splendid  eloquence 
here: 

"On  this  question  of  principle,  while  actual  suffering  was  yet 
afar  off,  they  raised  their  flag  against  a  power  to  which,  for  pur- 
poses of  foreign  conquest  and  subjugation,  Rome  in  the  height 
of  her  glory  is  not  to  be  compared — a  power  which  has  dotted 
over  the  surface  of  the  whole  globe  with  her  possessions  and 
military  posts,  whose  morning  drum-beat,  following  the  sun,  and 
keeping  company  with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  with  one 
continuous  and  unbroken  strain  of  the.  mental  airs  of  England." 

Against  that  power  to  which  they  were  as  nothing,  against 
that  lovely  land  of  their  origin,  they  stood  out  when  it  was  a 
question  of  their  own  independence  and  their  own  manhood. 

That  applies  to  every  foreign-born  American  citizen  today — 
Saxon,  Celt,  Scandinavian,  Teuton,  Slav,  Latin,  Syrian,  bond  and 
free.  Learn  the  lesson  of  the  Revolution.  This  country  will 
have  no  hands  upon  it,  from  any  origin,  anywhere  outside  itself. 
Learn  the  lesson  of  the  Civil  War;  the  nation  that  set  to  work 
to  keep  its  integrity  as  a  political  whole,  to  keep  its  integrity  as  a 
human  whole,  to  fight,  as  it  had  done  a  foreign  dominion,  an 
evil  genius  inside  its  own  border.  There  again  is  a  vast  lesson 
to  all  of  us  who  are  foreign  born.  Once  again  we  should  store 
in  memory  and  ponder  in  clearest  conscience  and  intelligence 
the  gerat  ideas,  the  great  political  ideas  of  America  as  they  are 
exhibited  in  Washington,  in  Hamilton  the  Nationalist,  and  in 
Jefferson  the  State  Rights'  patriot;  and  again  in  Webster  and 
Calhoun,  in  Lincoln  and  the  Confederate,  and  as  they  issued  at 
last  in  a  true  conception  of  state  freedom  in  a  sisterhood  of 


88  AMERICANIZATION 

states  that  constitutes  a  great  nation.  These  things  should  be 
part  of  the  common  store  of  knowledge  of  the  adopted  citizen. 
They  are  the  great  forces  that  have  moved  this  country  from 
its  earliest  beginning,  and  that  have  lifted  it  into  power  and  re- 
nown. 

America  must  be  first;  cherish  your  love  for  the  old  coun- 
try, your  tenderness — a  man  does  not  need  to  hate  his  mother 
because  he  loves  his  wife,  but  it  is  his  duty  to  stand  by  his  wife 
even  against  his  mother.  What  kind  of  a  country  should  we 
have  if  every  citizen,  when  trouble  comes,  should  prefer  in 
loyalty  the  land  of  his  birth !  What  a  confused  mob  of  a 
country  we  should  have!  Duty  overrides  origin,  tradition,  sen- 
timent. Here  and  here  alone  is  our  supreme  and  inviolable 
obligation. 

I  often  think  that  this  great  country  of  ours  is  ultimately  to 
be  the  deepest-hearted  and  the  brighest-minded  nation  of  the 
world.  Hither  come,  with  sore  hearts,  burdened  humanity  and 
quickened  intelligence,  the  elect;  yes,  the  elect  from  all  nations. 
You  look  at  them  when  they  land  and  you  laugh.  If  you  had 
been  in  Quebec  when  I  landed  perhaps  you  would  not  have 
wanted  me  for  your  minister !  The  elect  from  all  nations,  parts 
of  a  splendid  orchestra — violin,  flute,  cornet,  drum,  trumpet,  and 
a  score  of  other  instruments,  all  pouring  forth  their  genius  to 
make  the  great,  swelling,  soul-stirring  symphony  of  this  mighty 
nation.  Thus  from  Scandinavia,  Germany,  France,  Italy,  Rus- 
sia, Armenia,  Greece ;  from  England,  Ireland  and  Scotland  they 
come — all  are  here  with  great  souls  to  make  a  new  and  greater 
America.  Out  of  this  composite  land,  this  Pentecostal  nation — 
sometimes  it  seems  to  me  minus  the  Holy  Ghost — this  nation 
gathered  from  every  people  under  the  heaven,  rags  and  tatters  and 
dirt  and  all,  I  believe  that  the  Eternal  Spirit  will  evolve  and 
establish  the  most  gifted,  the  most  far-shining  and  the  mightiest 
people  in  the  world.  God  grant  that  our  dream  may  come  true ! 

The  Appeal   of  the  Nations.     15-29.     Boston.      Pilgrim   Press.      1917. 


AMERICANIZATION  89 


AMERICAN   IDEALS  AND  RACE  MIXTURE 

PERCY  STICK NEY  GRANT 

AMERICAN  RECTOR,  CHURCH  OF  THE  ASCENSION,  NEW  YORK/  WORKER 
FOR  HIS  FELLOW  MEN. 

The  rapidity  with  which  the  democratic  ideas  are  taken  on 
by  immigrants  under  the  influence  of  our  institutions  is  remark- 
able. I  have  personally  had  experiences  with  French-Canadians. 
Portuguese,  Hebrews  and  Italians.  These  races  have  certainly 
taken  advantage  of  their  opportunities  among  us  in  a  fashion  to 
promise  well  for  their  final  effect  upon  this  country.  The 
French-Canadian  has  become  a  sufficiently  good  American  to 
have  given  up  his  earlier  programme  of  turning  New  England 
into  a  new  France — that  is,  into  a  Catholic  province  or  of  return- 
ing to  the  Province  of  Quebec.  He  is  seeing  something  better 
than  a  racial  or  religious  ideal  in  the  freedom  of  American  citi- 
zenship ;  and  on  one  or  two  occasions,  when  he  had  political 
power  in  two  municipalities,  he  refrained  from  exercising  it  to 
the  detriment  of  the  public-school  system.  He  has  added  a 
gracious  manner  and  a  new  feeling  for  beauty  to  New  England 
traits. 

The  Portuguese  have  taken  up  neglected  or  abandoned  New 
England  agricultural  land  and  have  turned  it  to  productive  and 
valuable  use.  Both  the  French-Canadian  and  the  Portuguese 
have  come  to  us  by  way  of  the  New  England  textile  mills. 

The  actual  physical  machinery  of  civilization — cotton-mills, 
woolen-mills,  iron-mills,  etc. — lock  up  a  great  deal  of  human  en- 
ergy physical  and  mental,  just  as  one  hundred  years  ago  the 
farms  did,  from  which  later  sprang  most  of  the  members  of  our 
dominant  industrial  class.  A  better  organization  of  society,  by 
which  machinery  would  do  still  more  and  afford  a  freer  play  for 
mental  and  physical  energy  and  organization,  would  find  a  re- 
sponse from  classes  that  are  now  looked  upon  as  not  contributing 
to  our  American  culture;  would  unlock  the  high  potentialities  in 
the  laboring  classes,  now  unguessed  and  unexpended. 

The  intellectual  problems  and  the  advanced  thinking  of  the 
Hebrew,  his  fondness  for  study,  and  his  freedom  on  the  whole 
from  wasteful  forms  of  dissipation,  sport,  and  mental  stagnation, 
constitute  him  a  more  fortunate  acquisition  for  this  country  than 
are  thousands  of  the  descendants  of  Colonial  settlers.  In  short 


90  AMERICANIZATION 

we  must  reconstruct  our  idea  of  democracy — of  American  de- 
mocracy. This  done,  we  must  construct  a  new  picture  of  citizen- 
ship. If  we  do  these  things  we  shall  welcome  the  rugged 
strength  of  the  peasant  or  the  subtle  thought  of  the  man  of  the 
Ghetto  in  our  reconsidered  American  ideals.  After  all,  what  are 
these  American  ideals  we  boast  so  much  about?  Shall  we  say 
public  schools,  the  ballot,  freedom?  The  American  stock  use 
private  schools  when  they  can  afford  them;  they  too  often  leave 
town  on  Election  Day;  as  for  freedom,  competent  observers  be- 
lieve it  is  disappearing.  The  conservators  and  believers  in 
American  ideals  seem  to  be  our  immigrants.  To  the  Russian 
Jew,  Abraham  Lincoln  is  a  god.  If  American  ideals  are  such  as 
pay  honor  to  the  intellectual  and  to  the  spiritual  or  foster  human 
brotherhood  or  love  culture  and  promote  liberty,  then  they  are 
safe  with  our  new  citizens  who  are  eager  for  these  things. 

Not  only  do  these  races  bring  with  them  most  desirable 
qualities,  but  they  themselves  are  subjected  to  new  environment 
and  strongly  influential  conditions.  Just  here  arise  duties  for 
the  preesnt  masters  of  America.  Ought  they  not  to  create  an 
industrial,  social  and  educational  environment  of  the  most  up- 
lifting sort  for  our  foreign-born  citizens? 

If  working-people  are  obliged  to  live  in  unhealthful  tene- 
ments situated  in  slums  or  marsh  land,  if  the  saloon  is  allowed 
to  be  their  only  social  center,  if  they  are  fought  by  the  rich  in 
every  effort  to  improve  their  condition,  we  may  expect  any  mis- 
fortune to  happen  to  them  and  also  any  fate  to  befall  the  State. 

What  improved  milieu  can  do  to  improve  the  psysique  is 
easily  seen  on  all  sides.  The  increase  in  the  height  and  weight 
of  Americans  in  the  last  few  decades  is  conspicuous.  Even  the 
size  of  American  girls  and  boys  has  increased,  and  this  increase 
in  size  is  commonly  attributed  to  the  more  comfortable  condi- 
tions of  life,  to  better  food,  and  especially  to  the  popularity  of  all 
forms  of  athletics,  and  the  extension,  as  in  the  last  twenty-five 
or  thirty  years,  of  the  out-of-door  and  country  life.  If  these 
factors  have  made  so  marked  and  visible  a  change  in  the  physique 
of  the  children  of  native-born  Americans,  why  may  not  the 
same  conditions  also  contribute  an  improvement  to  the  more 
recent  immigrant  stock? 

Our  question,  then,  as  to  the  effect  of  race  mixture  is  not  the 
rather  supercilious  one:  What  are  we  admitting  into  America 
that  may  possibly  injure  American  ideals?  but,  What  are  the  old 


AMERICANIZATION  91 

American  races  doing  to  perpetuate  these  ideals?  And  is  not 
our  future  as  a  race,  largely  by  our  own  fault,  in  the  hands  of 
the  peasant  races  of  Europe? 

After  all,  for  those  who  pin  their  faith  to  the  Baltic  and 
northern  European  races,  there  is  reason  for  hope  to  be  found 
even  in  current  immigration.  From  1899  to  1910,  the  Hebrew, 
southern  Italian,  Polish  and  Slovak  period,  of  the  nine  millions 
who  landed  in  the  United  States,  while  there  were  377,527 
Slovaks  and  318,151  Magyars,  there  were  408,614  English,  586,306 
Scandinavians,  and  754,375  Germans,  and  even  136,842  Scotch, 
151,774  Finnish,  439,724  Irish  and  20,752  Welsh.  Two  millions 
and  a  half  from  northern  Europe — over  twenty-six  per  cent.  One 
million  seventy-four  thousand  are  Hebrews,  mostly  from  Russia; 
and  the  Russian  Jews,  according  to  a  most  distinguished  German 
Jew,  are  intellectually  the  ablest  Hebrews  in  America.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  nearly  two  millions  of  the  immigrants  of  the 
last  decade  have  been  southern  Italians,  let  us  show  them  grati- 
tude for  their  invaluable  manual  labor,  for  their  willingness, 
their  patience,  their  power  for  fast  work,  and  their  love  of 
America.  Their  small  stature  does  not  argue  their  degeneracy. 
The  Romans  were  small  compared  to  the  Goths — small,  but  well 
formed  and  strong.  The  Japanese  are  also  small. 

Indifference,  prejudice,  illiteracy,  segregation  of  recent  im- 
migrants by  parochial  schools,  by  a  native  colonial  press,  bad 
physical  and  social  environment,  and  the  low  American  ideals  of 
citizenship  held  by  those  the  immigrant  sees  or  hears  most  about, 
obstruct  race  assimilation;  but  all  these  can  be  changed.  Yes,  it 
is  the  keeping  up  of  difference  and  class  isolation  that  destroys 
and  deteriorates.  Fusion  is  a  law  of  progress. 
****** 

Every  act  of  religious  or  civil  tyranny,  every  economic  wrong 
done  to  races  in  all  the  world,  becomes  the  burden  of  the  nation 
to  which  the  oppressed  flee  for  relief  and  opportunity.  And  the 
beauty  of  democracy  is  that  it  is  a  method  by  which  these  needs 
may  freely  express  themselves  and  bring  about  what  the  op- 
pressed have  prayed  for  and  have  been  denied.  Let  us  be  careful 
not  to  put  America  into  the  class  of  the  oppressors.  Let  us  rise 
to  an  eminence  higher  than  that  occupied  by  Washington  or  Lin- 
coln, to  a  new  Americanism  which  is  not  afraid  of  the  blending 
in  the  western  world -of  races  seeking  freedom.  Our  present 
problem  is  the  greatest  in  our  history.  Not  colonial  inde- 


92  AMERICANISM 

pendence,  not  Federal  unity,  but  racial  amalgamation  is  the 
heroic  problem  of  the  present,  with  all  it  implies  in  purification 
and  revision  of  old  social,  religious  and  political  deals,  with  all 
it  demands  in  new  sympathy  outside  of  blood  and  race,  and  in 
a  willingness  to  forego  old-time  privileges. 

****** 

If  America  has  done  anything  for  an  American,  it  ought  to 
have  made  him  helpful  and  hopeful  toward  mankind,  especially 
the  poor  and  oppressed;  but  science  to-day  comes  to  the  assist- 
ance of  democracy  and  finds  the  lyric  cry  of  brotherhood  in  the 
laws  of  nature: 

"Open  thy  gates,  O  thou  favored  of  Heaven, 
Open    thy    gates    to    the   homeless    and   poor. 
So    sbalt    thou    garner    the    gifts    of    the    ages — 
From    the    Northlands    their    vigor, 
The    Southlands    their    grace, 
In   a   mystical   blending   of   souls    that   presages 
The    birth   of   earth's    rarest,    undreamable   race." 

North   American   Review.      195:513-25.      April,    1912. 


THE  MELTING  POT 

ISRAEL  ZANGWILL, 
DRAMATIST,  POET,  PHILSOPHER 

"There  she  lies,  the  great  Melting  Pot.  Listen !  Can't  you 
hear  the  roaring  and  the  bubbling?  There  gapes  her  mouth — 
the  harbor  where  a  thousand  mammoth  feeders  come  from  the 
ends  of  the  world  to  pour  in  their  human  freight.  Ah,  what  a 
stirring  and  a  seething!  Celt  and  Latin,  Slav  and  Teuton, 
Greek  and  Syrian — black  and  yellow.  Yes,  East  and  West,  and 
North  and  South,  the  palm  and  the  pine,  the  pole  and  the 
equator,  the  crescent  and  the  cross — how  the  great  Alchemist 
melts  and  fuses  them  with  his  purging  flame !  Here  shall  they 
all  unite  to  build  the  Republic  of  Man  and  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Ah,  what  is  the  glory  of  Rome  and  Jerusalem  where 
all  nations  and  races  come  to  worship  and  look  back,  compared 
with  the  glory  of  America,  where  all  races  come  to  labor  and 
look  forward. 

The  Melting  Pot.     A  drama.     New  York  Macmillan,    1909. 


AMERICANIZATION  93 

HENRY   HUDSON'S   LOG 

A.    GUITERMAN 

Wee  anchored  safe  in  Fathoms  four 

Within  a  Baye,  and  did  espic 
A  pleasaunt,  many-peopled  Shore 
Within  a  Baye,  and  did  espie 

From  where  some  Natives,  partlie  tamed, 

Did  come  in  Shallops  nine  or  ten 
To  make  us.  Speeches — these  were  named 

"Ye  Sons-in-Lawe  of  Famous  Men." 

Ashore  wee  went,  and  soon  a  Band 

Appeared,  bedecked  with  Silver  Starres, 
Which  called  themselves,  I  understand 

"Ye  Sons  of  Them  Which  Fitt  in  Warres." 

Another  Tribe  did  entertaine 

Our  Tars  at  Meat  within  an  Halle, 
And  they  were  hight,  "Ye  Noble  Straine 

Of  Them  Which  Came  Here  First  of  Alle !" 

Their  Womankind  in  Bevies  Twain 

Did  make  us  Cheere  with  Daunce  and  Song, 

But  eyther  Group  in  hie  Disdain 

Did  scorn  ye  other  Lovelie  Throng; 

Yea,  each  called  other,  "Sycophants" 

And   "Upstarte  Crewe !  "—Their  Rightful  Names 
Were  "Nieces  of  Ancestral  Aunts," 

And  "Daughters  of  Maternal  Dames." 

Ye  "Sons  of  Irish  Pioneers," 

Ye  "Natives  Sons  of  Foreign  Kynges," 
Ye  "Sons  of  Hessian  Grenadiers," 

And  Sundrie  Sons  of  Other  Thynges 


94  AMERICANIZATION 

About  us  raised  a  Goodlie  Stir, 
A  Modest  Folk  they  seemed  to  mee, 

More  Vaine  of  what  their  Fathers  were 
Than  Proud  of  what  theirselves  might  bee. 

Yet  more  were  there  too  Low  to  wear 

Grand  Coats-of-Arms  or  courtlie  Masks — 

An  Hoste  which  found  no  Time  to  spare 
But  strongly  toiled  at  many  Tasks. 

I  craved  of  One  of  Sturdie  Mold, 
"What  'Sons'  bee  ye?"  With  Merrie  Face, 

"No  'Sons'!"  he  cried;  "in  us  behold 
Ye  Fathers  of  ye  Coming  Race." 

The  Laughing  Muse.     pp.   82-4.     Harper.      1915. 


ESSENTIALS   FOR  AMERICANIZATION    (1916) 
EDWARD  A.  STEINER 

PROFESSOR  OF   APPLIED  CHRISTIANITY,   GRINNELL   COLLEGE,   IOWA;    IM- 
MIGRANT, AMERICAN,  BORN  IN  AUSTRIA. 

In  my  judgment  we  have  succeeded  in  keeping  America  a 
country  of  English  speech  just  because  we  have  not  insisted  upon 
it.  If  there  had  been  governmental  pressure  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  immigrant's  use  of  English  we  would  have  fallen  heir 
to  the  confusion  of  Babel,  and  to  the  never  ending  language 
problems  of  many  of  the  countries  of  Europe. 

Just  because  we  have  not  objected  to  religion's  being 
preached  in  the  tongue  in  which  men  were  born,  the  second  gen- 
eration demanded  to  hear  it  in  English. 

We  have  permitted  the  Poles  to  build  a  Polish  college  which 
will  languish,  and  ultimately  pass  away,  just  as  the  purely  Ger- 
man colleges  have  languished  and  died.  The  one  thing  we  need 
to  make  the  hyphen  permanent,  or,  worse  still,  make  this  a  coun- 
try of  warring  hyphens,  is  to  demand  through  pressure  that 


AMERICANIZATION  95 

nothing  but  the  English  language  shall  be  taught  and  spoken 
here. 

I  am  not  sure  that  we  can,  or  that  we  ought,  to  accelerate 
Americanization.  Thus  far  it  has  been  a  contagion  with  no 
artificial  stimulus.  When  we  shall  say  "Go  to,  we  will  Amer- 
icanize you,"  there  will  be  organized  efforts  to  resist  us,  and  the 
resistance  will  grow  with  our  insistence. 

We  have,  I  am  sure,  lost  many  opportunities  to  interpret 
America  to  the  immigrant,  especially  to  the  adult.  He  does  not 
come  in  contact  with  any  of  our  national  institutions  except  the 
saloon  and  the  police  court.  If  he  does  become  a  citizen  he 
usually  attains  to  that  high  and  holy  privilege  through  the  venal 
politician. 

The  whole  process  of  naturalization,  which  has  received  some 
attention  in  these  later  years,  needs  to  be  further  revised  and 
improved;  especially  by  dignifying  it  and  by  making  the  ap- 
plicant realize  that  it  is  a  privilege  which  he  may  forfeit  if  he 
does  not  perform  its  duties  conscientiously. 

I  am  not  sure  that  the  attempt  to  accelerate  naturalization,  by 
making  the  process  easier,  may  not  end  in  cheapening  it  still 
further.  I  believe  that  every  man  who  wishes  to  become  a  citizen 
ought  to  be  willing  to  take  pains  and  make  sacrifices,  if  neces- 
sary to  gain  that  end. 

Citizenship  is  too  valuable  a  possession  to  be  thrown  at  people, 
and  it  is  a  mistaken  notion  to  believe  that  because  a  man  has 
taken  out  his  naturalization  papers  he  is  necessarily  a  patriot  In 
fact,  we  know  that  the  two  are  not  identical,  and  I  can  easily 
imagine  myself  loving  this  country  and  being  ready  to  sacrifice 
myself  for  it,  even  had  I  not  the  sometimes  doubtful  privilege  of 
voting. 

We  should  apply  a  test  more  searching  than  the  mere  answer- 
ing of  a  few  questions  which  may  be  learned  by  rote.  No  man 
should  be  allowed  to  become  a  citizen  unless  his  conduct,  during 
five  years'  residence  in  this  country,  has  proved  that  he  is  already 
an  American  in  spirit ;  that  he  knows  the  meaning  of  liberty  and 
has  not  abused  it ;  and  that  he  is  capable  of  cooperating  with 
others  in  realizing  that  freedom. 

He  ought  to  be  able  to  prove  that  he  has  left  behind  him 
Europe's  racial,  religious  and  national  animosities  and  prejudices. 
He  ought  not  to  become  a  child  of  this  democracy,  and,  as  often 


96  AMERICANIZATION 

happens,  an  added  care,  until  he  has  proved  that  he  knows  its 
meaning  and  has  lived  up  to  it. 

These  rigid  tests  might  be  difficult  to  apply,  but  certainly  I 
should  be  greatly  opposed  to  any  cheapening  of  the  process.  The 
exploited  immigrant  is  very  poor  material  for  good  citizenship, 
whether  that  exploitation  has  been  made  by  the  shrewder  and 
earlier  comers  among  his  own,  which  is  frequently  the  case,  by 
heartless  corporations,  or  by  petty  officials  who  are  supposed  to 
protect  him. 

Our  satellite  cities,  crude,  huge,  springing  up  to-day  and  ready 
to  perish  to-morrow,  are  poor  places  in  which  to  train  men  for 
citizenship.  The  hovels  in  which  the  immigrants  live,  or  are 
permitted  to  live,  the  vulgarity  and  brutality  of  the  life  which 
surrounds  them,  are  also  poor  places  for  the  training  of  future 
American  citizens  from  whom  we  expect  self-respect,  respect  for 
others,  and  power  to  control  themselves  and  others. 

The  greatest  enemy  of  the  immigrant  is  the  saloon ;  and  if  he 
could  not  obtain  liquor,  it  would  prove  one  of  the  greatest  bless- 
ings to  him  and  to  the  community  in  which  he  lives. 

It  is  more  necessary  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  liquor  to  certain 
groups  of  immigrants  than  to  the  Indians :  for  the  most  docile 
and  law-abiding  among  them  are  turned  into  fiends  by  its  use. 
It  has  been  one  of  the  most  potent  agencies  in  despoiling  and 
corrupting  them. 

A  rigid  insistence  upon  economic  and  social  justice,  and  the 
/assurance  that  the  state  looks  upon  them  as  something  more 
than  animated  machines,  to  be  used  and  abused  at  the  owners' 
will,  would  bind  these  millions  in  gratitude  to  the  country  of 
which  they  know  little  or  nothing,  except  when  they  are  punished 
for  breaking  its  laws. 

I  have  strongly  urged,  but  thus  far  in  vain,  that  every  ship 
which  carries  emigrants  should  have  on  board  a  United  States 
officer  who  would  use  the  time  of  transit  to  instruct  the  people 
coming  to  us.  They  should  be  told  of  their  privileges  and  their 
duties,  the  nature  of  our  government  and  the  part  they  may 
ultimately  have  in  it. 

I  have  often  acted  voluntarily  in  such  a  capacity,  and  have 
found  that  by  the  aid  of  immigrants  who  are  returning  to  us, 
such  instruction  can  be  effectively  given. 

Much  of  the  preliminary  work  of  inspection  could  thus  be 


AMERICANIZATION  97 

done.  I  know  there  are  difficulties  in  the  way,  but  they  are  not 
insurmountable. 

The  immigrant  receiving  station  should  not  be  merely  a 
heartless  machine  for  this  sifting  of  human  material.  The  gov- 
ernment ought  to  do  something  more  for  these  people  than  put 
a  chalk  mark  upon  their  coats,  or  open  the  gate  of  a  strange 
and  new  country  without  a  word  of  advice  or  warning. 

Our  national  holidays  might  gain  new  significance  for  us  if 
in  some  public  manner  we  would  share  them  with  these  new- 
comers for  whom  festivals  have  always  had  great  religious  and 
national  meaning. 

The  machinery  of  electing  our  public  servants  might  be 
made  elevating  rather  than  degrading  to  the  new  sharers  of  the 
great  privileges  of  our  democracy. 

I  have  the  utmost  faith  in  the  power  of  a  good  example,  and 
firmly  believe  that  we  must  develop  a  finer  type  of  native  Amer- 
ican citizen. 

Consider  the  attitude  of  the  average  American  towards  the 
government  of  his  city  or  country,  the  low  tone  of  our  discus- 
sion of  public  issues,  the  ridicule  which  we  heap  upon  our  of- 
ficials from  which  even  the  chief  magistrate  is  not  spared;  the 
personal  and  partisan  selfishness  so  strongly  in  evidence  even  in 
this  most  critical  moment  of  our  national  life.  Need  we  then 
wonder  if  every  hyphenated  citizen  does  not  manifest  the 
gracious  unselfishness  of  a  George  Washington  or  the  sacrificial 
devotion  of  an  Abraham  Lincoln? 

At  least  one  American  writer  shows  ignorance  regarding  the 
immigrant's  character  by  calling  him  ungrateful. 

Among  all  his  shortcomings  this  is  the  least,  and  among  his 
virtues  it  is  the  greatest,  as  every  one  knows  who  has  sensed  the 
soul  of  these  grateful  people. 

There  are  among  them  those  who  bitterly  assail  our  social 
order,  with  its  glaring  injustice  to  the  many.  They  criticize  our 
laws  which  protect  property  to  the  neglect  of  person,  which  is 
infinitely  more  sacred.  They  are  merely  doing  in  their  crude 
way  what  is  being  done  every  day  in  our  colleges  in  a  somewhat 
more  refined  but  more  incisive  way.  The  difference  is  that  the 
agitator  prints  his  protest  in  pamphlets  and  binds  them  in  red; 
while  the  professor  writes  a  volume  which  he  calls  a  text-book. 

No,  they  are  not  an  ungrateful  people.     It  is  true  that  one  of 


98  AMERICANISM 

them  has  said,  in  public  print,  that  when  the  war  is  over  the 
Germans  will  return  to  the  Fatherland  en  masse,  because  all 
they  sought  here  was  economic  betterment.  There  may  be  an 
exodus  of  some  Germans.  In  fact  every  German  who  has  ceased 
to  be  a  loyal  American,  who  has  no  confidence  in  her  institutions, 
who  has  no  faith  in  her  ideals,  ought  to  return,  for  he  would  be 
a  menace  to  those  of  us  who  remain  and  who  will  find  it  difficult 
enough  to  be  trusted  at  a  time  when  we  shall  be  eager  to  prove 
our  love  and  loyalty  to  our  adopted  country. 

The  larger  number  which  will  expatriate  itself  from  this 
country  will  be  certain  Americans  returning  to  their  chateaux  in 
France,  their  pensions  and  villas  in  Italy,  and  their  spas  and 
cursaals  in  Germany.  All  these  are  now  deserted,  nearly  bank- 
rupt, and  will  be  glad  when  the  Americans  return. 

The  problem  will  not  be  to  keep  the  immigrants  from  going 
back ;  the  real  problem  will  be,  how,  wisely  to  regulate  the  in- 
flow which  is  bound  to  come  when  the  war  ceases. 

We,  the  "Hyphenated  Americans,"  will  stay,  because  we  need 
this  country,  because  humanity  needs  it  and  its  institutions,  now 
as  never  before.  We  wish  to  help  it  become  such  a  country  as  it 
ought  to  be,  kept  from  Europe's  plagues,  and  healed  from  its 
disease.  We  wish  to  live  and  work  so  that  we  shall  have  the 
right  to  call  it  our  country.  We  ought  to  have  the  same  right 
to  it  as  had  those  of  our  kin  who  followed  your  rivers,  the 
Mohawk,  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississipi;  drawing  their  plows 
through  your  marshes,  defying  fever  and  pestilence,  laying  the 
foundations  of  your  national  wealth,  and  shedding  their  blood 
upon  your  battlefields. 

We  want  this  to  become  our  country,  through  the  labor  of 
the  men  who  mine  your  coal,  who  dig  and  melt  your  ore;  and 
by  the  sacrifices  of  those  who  die  in  the  heart  of  the  mine  and 
are  slain  at  the  mouth  of  the  pit. 

These  brave  millions  working  so  courageously  are  ours  and 
yours;  the  pioneers  of  a  new  epoch,  the  creators  of  a  new  era. 
It  is  for  you  to  say  what  the  coming  days  are  to  mean  to  them, 
and  to  you,  and  to  the  country  which  they  love  in  spite  of  its 
sins  against  them. 

What  will  you  do  with  them?  It  is  for  you  to  say.  You 
may  break  them  over  the  wheels  of  what  you  proudly  call 
progress.  You  may  starve  them  into  the  submissive  serfdom 
out  of  which  they  have  escaped.  You  may  make  them  ashamed 


AMERICANIZATION  99 

of  their  heritage,  lodged  in  brain  and  heart,  or  you  may  make 
cowards  of  them  and  compel  them  to  bow  before  your  flag,  as  a 
symbol  of  authority;  but  they  will  not  be  Americans. 

The  only  way  I  know  in  which  to  make  Americans  of  them, 
members  of  a  free  commonwealth,  is  to  treat  them  like  human 
beings. 

Treat  them  as  you  would  the  child  born  late  into  your  own 
family — as  one  of  you;  have  confidence  in  them,  even  in  these 
days,  when  their  loyalty  may  be  wavering,  and  when  in  their 
confusion  they  do  not  know  where  to  turn. 

This  is  a  time  of  heart-searching  for  us  who  have  accepted 
America's  sanctuary,  and  also  for  those  born  in  this  land  of  the 
free.  To  the  native  American  there  comes  a  call  to  curb  his  in- 
dividualism without  sacrificing  his  individuality ;  to  quicken  his 
patriotic  impulses  without  dulling  his  feeling  to  prepare  for  war, 
and  a  still  more  insistent  call  to  prepare  for  peace ;  a  deep,  down- 
reaching  peace,  a  high,  uplifting  peace. 

For  us,  so-called  "Hyphenated  Americans,"  this  period  is  one 
to  severely  test  our  loyalty  to  this  country  which  has  become 
ours  by  the  grace  of  its  people.  They  are  a  generous  people, 
who  mean  to  be  just,  a  people  whom  we  know  to  be  far  better 
than  they  appear  to  us  now,  and  to  whom  we  are  bound  for  all 
time. 

In  our  heart  of  hearts  we  love  this  country  more  than  Ger- 
many or  Austria  or  England  or  Trance ;  we  love  it  above  the 
holy  names  of  Jerusalem  or  Rome — The  Sanctuary  of  Humanity 
—America. 

Confessions  of  a  hyphenated  American,  pp.  51-63,  a  lecture  delivered 
under  the  auspices  of  the  League  for  Political  Education,  New  York. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company.  1916. 


NEW   AMERICANS 
WALTER  E.  WEYL 

ECONOMIST,   STATISTICIAN,   STUDENT  OF  DEMOCRACY 

When  we  compare  the  America  of  today  with  the  America 
of  half  a  century  ago,  certain  differences  stand  out  sharply. 
America  to-day  is  far  richer.  It  is  is  also  more  stratified.  Our 
social  gamut  has  been  widened.  There  are  more  vivid  contrasts, 
more  startling  differences,  in  education  and  in  the  general 
chances  of  life.  Wre  are  less  rural  and  more  urban,  losing  the 


ioo  AMERICANIZATION 

virtues  and  the  vices,  the  excellences  and  the  stupidities,  of 
country  life,  and  gaining  these  of  the  city.  We  are  missing  in  onr 
cities  armies  of  the  poor  to  take  the  place  of  country  ne'er-do- 
wells  and  village  hangers-on.  We  are  more  sophisticated.  We 
are  more  lax  and  less  narrow.  We  have  lost  our  earlier  frugal 
simplicity,  and  have  become  extravagant  and  competitively  lavish. 
We  have,  in  short,  created  a  new  type  of  American,  who  lives 
in  the  city,  reads  newspapers  and  even  books,  bathes  frequently, 
travels  occasionally;  a  man,  fluent  intellectually  and  physically 
restless,  ready  but  not  profound,  intent  upon  success,  not  with- 
out idealism,  but  somewhat  disillusioned,  pleasure-loving,  hard 
working,  humorous.  At  the  same  time  there  grows  a  sense  of  a 
social  maladjustment,  a  sense  of  a  failure  of  America  to  live  up 
to  expectations,  and  an  intensifying  desire  to  right  a  not  clearly 
perceived  wrong.  There  develops  a  vigorous,  if  somewhat 
vague  and  untrained,  moral  impulse,  an  impulse  based  on  social 
rather  than  individual  ethics,  unesthetic,  democratic,  headlong. 

Although  this  development  might  have  come  about  in  part, 
at  least,  without  immigration,  the  process  has  been  enormously 
accelerated  by  the  arrival  on  our  shores  of  millions  of  Europfans. 
These  men  came  to  make  a  living,  and  they  made  not  only  their 
own  but  other  men's  fortunes.  They  hastened  the  dissolution 
of  old  conditions ;  they  undermined  old  standards  by  introducing 
new;  their  very  traditions  facilitated  the  growth  of  that  tradi- 
tionless  quality  of  the  American  mind  which  hastened  our 
material  transformation. 

This  very  passivity  of  the  newly  arrived  immigrant  is  the 
most  tremendous  of  influences.  The  workman  who  does  not 
join  a  union,  the  citizen  who  sends  his  immature  children  to  the 
factory,  the  man  who  does  not  become  naturalized,  or  who  main- 
tains a  standard  of  living  below  an  inadequate  wage,  such  a  one 
by  contagion  and  pressure  changes  conditions  and  lowers  stand- 
ards all  about  him,  undermining  to  the  extent  of  his  lethargy 
our  entire  social  edifice.  The  aim  of  Americanization  is  to 
combat  this  passive  influence.  Two  forces,  like  good  and  evil, 
are  opposed  on  that  long  frontier  line  where  the  immigrant 
comes  into  contact  with  the  older  resident.  The  American, 
through  self-protection,  not  love,  seeks  to  raise  the  immigrant 
to  his  economic  level;  the  immigrant,  through  self-protection, 
not  through  knowledge,  involuntarily  accepts  conditions  which 
tend  to  drag  the  American  down  to  his.  In  this  contest  much 


AMERICANIZATION  101 

that  we  ordinarily  account  virtue  is' evil;  much  that  is  ugly  js 
good.  The  immigrant  girl  puts  on  a  corset,  exchanges  her 
picturesque  head-dress  for  a  flowering  monstrosity  of  an  Ameri- 
can hat,  squeezes  her  honest  peasant's  foot  into  a  narrow,  thin- 
soled  American  shoe — and  behold,  it  is  good.  It  is  a  step 
toward  assimilation,  toward  a  more  expensive  if  not  a  more 
lovely  standard  of  living.  It  gives  hostages  to  America.  It 
makes  the  frenzied  saving  of  the  early  days  impossible.  Docility, 
abnegation,  and  pecuniary  abasement  are  not  economic  virtues, 
however  highly  they  may  be  rated  in  another  category. 

In  still  other  ways  this  assimilation  alters  and  limits  the 
alien's  influence.  Much  is  lost  in  the  process.  The  immigrant 
comes  to  us  laden  with  gifts,  but  we  have  not  the  leisure  to  take 
nor  the  opportunity  to  tender.  The  brilliant  native  costumes, 
the  strange,  vibrant  dialects,  the  curious  mental  molds  are  soon 
faded  or  gone.  The  old  religions,  the  old  customs,  the  tradi- 
tional manners,  the  ancient  lace  do  not  survive  the  melting-pot. 
Assimilation,  however  necessary,  ends  the  charm  and  rareness 
of  our  quaint  human  importations. 

The  time  has  passed  when  we  exulted  in  the  number  of 
grown-up  men,  bred  at  another  country's  expense,  who  came 
to  work  for  us  and  fertilize  our  soils  with  their  dead  bones.  The 
time  has  passed  when  we  believed  that  mere  numbers  were  all. 
To-day,  despite  night  schools,  settlement,  and  a  whole  network 
of  Americanizing  agencies,  we  have  teeming,  polyglot  slums  and 
the  clash  of  race  with  race  in  sweatshop  and  factory,  mine  and 
lumber-camp.  We  have  a  mixture  of  ideals,  a  confusion  of 
standards,  a  conglomeration  of  clashing  views  of  life.  We,  the/ 
many-nationed  nation  of  America,  bring  the  Puritan  tradition,* 
a  trifle  anemic  and  thin,  a  little  the  worse  for  disuse.  The  immi- 
grant brings  a  Babel  of  traditions,  an  all  too  plastic  mind,  a 
willingness  to  copy  our  virtues  and  vices,  to  imitate  us  for  better 
or  for  worse.  All  of  which  hampers  and  delays  the  formation 
of  a  national  consciousness. 

From  whatever  point  we  view  the  new  America,  we  cannot 
help  seeing  how  ultimately  the  changes  have  been  bound  up  with 
our  immigration,  especially  with  that  of  recent  years.  The  wide- 
ning of  the  social  gamut  "becomes  more  significant  when  we  re- 
call that  with  unrestricted  immigration  our  poorest  citizens  are 
periodically  recruited  from  the  poor  of  the  poorest  countries  of 
Europe.  Our  differences  in  education,  while  they  have  other 


102  AMERICANIZATION 

causes,  are  sharply  accentuated  by  our  enormous  development  of 
university  and  high  schools  at  the  one  end,  and  by  the  increasing 
illiteracy*  of  our  immigrants  at  the  other.  In  cities  where  there 
are  large  immigrant  populations  we  note  the  beginning  of  a 
change  in  our  attitude  toward  the  public  schools,  toward  uni- 
versal suffrage,  toward  many  of  the  pious,  if  unrealized,  national 
ideals  of  an  earlier  period. 

Fundamentally,  however,  the  essential  fact  about  our  present- 
day  immigration  is  not  that  the  immigrant  has  changed  (though 
that  fact  is  of  great  importance),  but  that  the  America  to  which 
the  immigrant  comes  has  changed  fundamentally  and  perma- 
nently. And  the  essential  fact  about  the  immigrant's  effect  on 
American  character  is  this,  that  the  gift  of  the  immigrant  to  the 
nation  is  not  the  qualities  which  he  himself  had  at  home,  but 
the  very  qualities  which  Americans  have  always  had.  In  other 
words,  at  a  time  when  American  industrial,  political,  and  social 
conditions  are  changing,  partly  as  a  result  of  immigration  itself, 
the  immigrant  hampers  our  psychological  adjustment  to  such 
changes  by  giving  scope  and  exercise  to  old  national  characteris- 
tics which  should  be  obsolescent. 

America  to-day  is  in  transition.  We  have  moved  rapidly 
from  one  industrial  world  to  another,  and  this  progress  has  been 
aided  and  stimulated  by  immigration.  The  psychological  change, 
however,  which  should  have  kept  pace  with  this  industrial  transi- 
tion, has  been  slower  and  less  complete.  It  has  been  retarded 
by  the  very  rapidity  of  our  immigration,  and  by  the  tremendous 
educational  tasks  which  that  influx  placed  upon  us.  The  immi- 
grant is  a  challenge  to  our  highest  idealism,  but  the  task  of 
Americanizing  the  extra  millions  of  new-comers  has  hindered 
progress  in  the  task  of  democratizing  America. 

Chautauquan.      39:217-25.      My,    1904. 

Harper.     129:615-22.     S.   '14. 

*  Percentage  of  illiteracy  among  the  foreign-born  is  apparently  not  in- 
creasing in  spite  of  the  great  increase  in  numbers  of  illiterate  foreign- 
born.— [Editor.] 


AMERICANIZATION  103 


THE  ALIEN 
HENRY  B.  FULLER 

POET,  KINDLY  STUDENT  OF  HIS  FELLOW   MEN 

As  a  child 

In  her  own  native  town, 

She  played  amidst — 

But  you,  complaisant  reader, 

Shall  set  the  scene  quite  as  you  choose. 

Make  her  loved  region 

Plainland  or  mountain,  at  your  wish ; 

And  her  natal  place 

A  close-built  town  of  stuccoed  fronts 

With  a  baroque-fac,aded  church  for  the  dull  priest, 

Crushed  down  by  a  deep  pediment  ; 

Or  let  the  church  soar  up  in  bulbous  spires, 

From  many  loose  disheveled  shacks  of  wood. 

(In  either  case,  make  nothing  of  the  school.) 

And  let  an  unbridged  river  mope  through  wide  marshes, 

Or  dash  in  headlong  flight 

Over  a  broad,  sandy  bottom  to  the  sea. 

Let  there  be  many  unwilling  soldiers, 

To  cow  their  brothers  of  the  street  and  fields  ; 

And  tyrannous  officials  in  abundant  measure, 

Who  draw  their  sanction  from  some  distant  capital — 

Or  act  without  it; 

And  let  there  be  a  few  stout  hearts, 

Impelled  by  hope,  or  misery,  or  courage, 

Or  all  three, 

To  venture  toward  the  other  world. 

She  crosses  at  ten; 

And  after  many  days  they  showed  her, 

Through  a  far-shimmering,  watery  haze, 

A  towering,  iron-spiked  head, 

And  told  her  she  was  free. 

Free  in  the  close-built  streets  of  a  tight-packed  city; 
Free  in  the  swirling  tide  of  the  lately-come  and  the 

about-to-come ; 

Free  to  trip  or  trudge  behind  a  push-cart 
Through  clattering  ways ;  or,  later, 


-104 :  AMERICANIZATION 

To  mouse  beneath  a  counter 

On  which  were  heaped  coarse  gloves  and  shirts  and  shoes — 

Or,  an  it  please  you  better, 

Strange  cheeses  and  odd  fruits  or  vegetables 

Plaited  in  strings  or  netted  in  festoons. 

And  through  it  all — this  newness — 

One's  own  dear  tongue,  one's  old  home  ways. 

After  a  time,  courted  in  the  hurly-burly 
By  one  from  her  own  province ; 
Then  another  shop,  better  and  bigger, 
With  their  own  infants  playing  on  the  floor, 
Or  chancing  fate  outside; 
And  one  of  these,  a  son, 
Destined  to  be  the  family's  morning-star — 
Nay,  its  bright  sun  in  the  new  heaven ; 
The  brightest  boy  in  school — 

That  school  where  this  strange  people 

Offered — and  compelled — instruction  free 

Then,  after  some  brief  years 

Through  which  he  sharpened  up  his  wits 

On  theory  and  practice, 

He  took  his  father's  petty  shop  and  juggled  it. 

It  grew  within  his  hands,  beneath  their  eyes, 

To  proportions  quite  unprecedented. 

He  walked  the  shining  road  of  quick  success, 

Skipping  from  peak  to  peak. 

At  thirty-five 

He  labored  in  one  palace,  lived  in  another, 

And  hundreds  from  his  mother's  country, 

And  other  hundreds  of  abject  natives, 

Slaved  for  his  further  good. 

Soon  her  grandsons  were  sporting  familiarly 

Through  picture-gallery  or  ballroom, 

And  harrying  costly  furniture, 

Jacobean,  Louis  Seize  or  Empire — 

It  changed  with  passing  seasons — 

In  childish  games. 

There  were  dinners',  stately  showy  things, 


AMERICANIZATION  105 

From  which  she  was  discreetly  absent, 

There  were  receptions,  with  music,  let  us  say, 

At  which  she  would  appear  briefly 

In  distant  doorways 

Blinking  dark,  narrow  eyes  at  the  incredible  scene, 

And  then  retiring. 

It  was  a  strange,  strange  world — 

A  world  apart  from  her, 

And  she  apart  from  it. 

She  stumbled  through  its  purlieus 

(Gorgeous  they  seemed), 

And  stammered  through  its  language 

(One  she  had  never  rightly  learned  to  speak). 

In  her  retired  bedroom 

She  gossiped  with  a  few  old  cronies 

Of  origin  like  hers, 

And  shyly  entertained  her  grandchildren, 

When  they  would  permit. 

On  certain  designated  days 

Women,  from  somewhere, 

Went  by,  to  somewhere, 

On  public  business — to  "vote,"- she  heard  it  said: 

A  thing  repellent  and  incredible. 

Other  things,  no  less  repellent  and  incredible 

Were  printed  in  the  papers,  she  was  told; 

But  these  she  never  read. 

In  due  course  her  grandsons 

Turned  lawyers,  doctors,  "business  men," 

With  weapons  of  offense  and  defense 

Unknown  throughout  her  clan  in  earlier  days. 

More  than  ever  was  she  safeguarded  and  entrenched 

In  this  remote  and  alien  world. 

A  great  war  came. 

The  quarrel  had  two  sides,  she  heard. 

How  two? 

Her  heart,  forgetful  quite  of  old  injustices, 

Was  with  the  land  where  stood  the  little  town, 

On  mountain-stream  or  plain, 


io6  AMERICANIZATION 

Which  once  had  been  her  home, 

The  spot  of  her  nativity. 

And  midst  the  family's  recent  splendors 

The  younger  generations  spoke  up  hotly 

(With  less  discretion  than  they  used  outside) 

About  the  exactions  of  "Americans" 

As  to  the  attitude  of  newer  stocks; 

And  one  young  lad  flung  out, 

In  a  moment  of  high  exasperation, 

That  he  would  go  and  help  his  people's  cause. 

"Will  they  let  you  come  back  ?  "   she  quavered. 

Laughter,  and  it  was  explained 

That  the  means  for  letting  people  in 

Were  in  good  order, 

But  the  means  for  keeping  people  out 

Were  good  as  missing. 

So,  quietude. 

The  world  was  kind  and  fair; 

Privileges  were  many;  obligations,  light. 

A  good  soul,  all  vague  and  isolate, 

Rocked  to  and  fro  in  her  protected  chamber; 

A  little  in  one  world, 

A  little  in  another, 

A  good  deal  of  both; 

But  tending, 

By  all  the  strength  of  lengthening  age 

And  early  ties, 

To  drift  backward  toward  that  world — 

For  her  at  once  both  young  and  old — 

Where  she  began. 

Peace ;  let  her  fall  asleep. 

But  let  her  sons  keep  open  eyes — 

And  turn  them  the  right  way. 

Lines  Long  and  Short,  pp.     118-23.     Houghton.        1917. 


AMERICANIZATION  107 

ASSIMILATION  AND  PROGRESS 
JEREMIAH  W.  JENKS  AND  WILLIAM  J.  LAUCK 

The  causes  opposing  the  Americanization  of  the  recent  immi- 
grant population  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows: 

(1)  Isolation  from  the  natives  of  a  large  part  of  the  immi- 
grant population. 

(2)  Indifference,  and  to  some  extent  prejudice,  on  the  part 
of  the  natives  toward  immigrants. 

(3)  Illiteracy  of  a  large  proportion  of  immigrants. 

(4)  Ignorance  resulting  from  peasant  origin  of  nearly  all  of 
the  southern  European  immigrants,  and  their  unpreparedness  for 
so  decided  changes  in  environment. 

(5)  The   influence    of   immigrant   churches    and   parochial 
schools   in   emphasizing  and  maintaining   racial   and   denomina- 
tional distinctions. 

(6)  Inability  to  speak  English. 

Those  factors  favorable  to  the  Americanization  of  southern 
and  eastern  European  are : 

(1)  Employment  of  immigrants  in  American  industries. 

(2)  Employment  of  immigrant  women  as  servants  in  Amer- 
ican households. 

(3)  Residence   to   some   extent   of   immigrants  and   natives 
and  association  resulting  therefrom. 

(4)  Attendance  of  immigrant  children  in  American  public 
schools  and  the  teaching  of  the  English  and  American  branches 
in  the  immigrant  parochial  school. 

(5)  The  influence  of  immigrant  priests  and  pastors  in  bring- 
ing about  permanency  of  residence  through  the  stimulation  of 
property  owning  and  home-making. 

The  Immigration  Problem,  pp.  317-18.     New  York.  Funk  and  Wagnalls 
Company.      1913. 


io8  AMERICANIZATION 


AMALGAMATION    AND    ASSIMILATION 
JOHN  R.  COMMONS 

ECONOMIST,    STUDENT    OF    HUMAN    RELATIONS 

The  term  amalgamation  may  be  used  for  that  mixture  of 
blood  which  unites  races  in  a  common  stock,  while  assimilation 
is  that  union  of  their  minds  and  will  which  enables  them  to 
think  and  act  together.  Amalgamation  is  a  process  of  centuries 
but  assimilation  is  a  process  of  individual  training.  Amalgama- 
tion is  a  blending  of  races,  assimilation  a  blending  of  civiliza- 
tions. Amalgamation  is  beyond  the  organized  efforts  of  govern- 
ment, but  assimilation  can  be  promoted  by  social  institutions  and 
laws.  Amalgamation  therefore  cannot  attract  our  practical  in- 
terest, except  as  its  presence  or  absence  sets  limits  to  our  efforts 
toward  assimilation. 

We  have  very  little  exact  information  regarding  the  amalga- 
mation of  races  in  America.  The  earlier  census  attempts  to  de- 
termine the  number  of  mulattoes  was  an  acknowledged  failure 
and  has  been  abandoned.  Nor  do  we  know  to  what  extent  there 
has  been  an  amalgamation  of  the  colonial  nationalities.  We  do 
know,  however,  that  for  the  most  part  they  have  blended  into  a 
united  people,  with  harmonious  ideals,  and  the  English,  the  Ger- 
man, the  Scotch-Irish,  the  Dutch  and  the  Huguenot  have  become, 
the  American. 

We  speak  of  superior  and  inferior  races,  and  this  is  well 
enough,  but  care  should  be  taken  to  distinguish  between  that 
superiority  which  is  the  original  endowment  of  race  and  that 
which  is  the  result  of  the  education  and  training  which  we  call 
civilization.  While  there  are  superior  and  inferior  races,  there 
are  primitive,  medieval  and  modern  civilizations,  and  there  are 
certain  mental  qualities  required  for  and  produced  by  these  dif- 
ferent grades  of  civilization.  A  superior  race  may  have  a  prim- 
itive or  medieval  civilization,  and  therefore  its  individuals  may 
never  have  exhibited  the  superior  mental  qualities  with  which 
they  are  actually  endowed  and  which  a  modern  civilization  would 
have  called  into  action.  The  adults  coming  from  such  a  civiliza- 
tion seem  to  be  inferior  in  their  mental  qualities,  but  their  chil- 
dren, placed  in  the  new  environments  of  the  advanced  civiliza- 
tion, exhibit  at  once  the  qualities  of  the  latter.  The  Chinaman 
comes  from  a  medieval  civilization — he  shows  little  of  those 


AMERICANIZATION  109 

qualities  which  are  the  product  of  western  civilization,  and  with 
his  imitativeness,  routine  and  traditions,  he  has  earned  the  rep- 
utation of  being  entirely  non-assimilable.  But  the  children  of 
Chinamen,  born  and  reared  in  this  country,  entirely  disprove  this 
charge,  for  they  are  as  apt  in  absorbing  the  spirit  and  method  of 
American  institutions  as  any  Caucasian.1 

The  Teutonic  races,  until  five  hundred  years  after  Christ, 
were  primitive  in  their  civilization,  yet  they  had  the  mental  ca- 
pacities which  made  them,  like  Arminius,  able  to  comprehend 
and  absorb  the  highest  Roman  civilization.  They  passed  through 
the  medieval  period  and  then  came  out  into  the  modern  period 
of  advanced  civilization,  yet  during  these  two  thousand  years 
their  mental  capacities,  the  original  endowment  of  race,  have 
scarcely  improved.  It  is  civilization,  not  race  evolution,  that  has 
transformed  the  primitive  warrior  into  the  philosopher,  scientist, 
artisan  and  business  man.  Could  their  babies  have  been  taken 
from  the  woods  two  thousand  years  ago  and  transported  to  the 
homes  and  schools  of  modern  America,  they  could  have  covered 
in  one  generation  the  progress  of  twenty  centuries.2  Other  races, 
like  the  Scotch  and  the  Irish,  made  the  transition  from  primi- 
tive institutions  to  modern  industrial  habits  wTithin  a  single 
century,  and  Professor  Brinton,  our  most  profound  student  of 
the  American  Indian,  has  said,3  "I  have  been  in  close  relations 
to  several  full-blood  American  Indians  who  had  been  removed 
from  an  aboriginal  environment  and  instructed  in  this  manner 
[in  American  schools  and  communities]  and  I  could  not  perceive 
that  they  were  either  in  intellect  or  sympathies  inferior  to  the 
usual  type  of  the  American  gentleman.  One  of  them  notably 
had  a  refined  sense  of  humor,  as  well  as  uncommon  acuteness  of 
observation." 

The  line  between  superior  and  inferior  races,  as  distinguished 
from  civilizations,  appears  to  be  the  line  between  the  temperate 
and  tropical  zones.  The  two  belts  of  earth  between  the  tropics 
of  Capricorn  and  Cancer  and  the  arctic  and  antarctic  circles  have 
been  the  areas  where  man  in  his  struggle  for  existence  developed 
the  qualities  of  mind  and  will — the  ingenuity,  self-reliance,  self- 
control,  strenuous  exertion,  and  will  power — which  make  him 

1  See  United  States  Department  of  Labor,  Report  on  Hawaii,  p.   715. 

2  See    an    interesting    article    by    H.    W.    Conn,    a   leading    authority   on 
biology,  entitled  "Social  Heredity,"  in  The  Independent,  January  21,   1004. 

3  "Religions   of   Primitive   People,"  p.    15. 


1 10  AMERICANIZATION 

befitting  the  modern  industrial  civilization.  But  in  the  tropics 
these  qualities  are  less  essential,  for  where  nature  lavishes  food 
and  winks  at  the  neglect  of  clothing  and  shelter,  there  ignorance, 
superstition,  physical  prowess  and  sexual  passion  have  an  equal 
chance  with  intelligence,  foresight,  thrift  and  self-control.  The 
children  of  all  the  races  of  the  temperate  zones  are  eligible  to  the 
highest  American  civilization,  and  it  only  needs  that  they  be 
"caught"  young  enough.  This  much  cannot  be  said  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  tropical  zone.  Amalgamation  is  their  door  to  as- 
similation. Frederick  Douglass,  Booker  Washington,  Professor 
DuBois  are  an  honor  to  any  race,  but  they  are  mulattoes.* 

Before  we  can  intelligently  inquire  into  the  agencies  of  Amer- 
icanization we  must  first  agree  on  what  we  mean  by  American- 
ization. I  can  think  of  no  comprehensive  and  concise  description 
equal  to  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln:  "Government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  for  the  people."  This  description  should  be  applied 
not  only  to  the  state  but  to  other  institutions.  In  the  home 
it  means  equality  of  husband  and  wife;  in  the  church  it 
means  the  voice  of  the  laity;  in  industry  the  participation  of  the 
workmen. 

Unhappily,  it  cannot  be  said  that  Lincoln's  description  has 
ever  been  attained.  It  is  the  goal  which  he  and  others  whom  we 
recognize  as  true  Americans  have  pointed  out.  Greater  than  any 
/  otner  obstacle  in  the  road  towards  that  goal  have  been  our  race 
..^divisions.  In  the  southern  states,  where  race  division  is  most 
extreme,  one-half  the  population  se/£rns  to  be  permanently  ex- 
cluded from  a  share  in  government.  Jin  the  great  cities  a  political 
bossism  allied  to  plutocracy  has  gained  immunity  from  successful 
attack  because  the  people  cannot  continuously  unite  across  the 
lines  of  race  and  nationality.  The  Americanism  of  the  rural 
districts,  setting  itself  against  the  foreignism  of  the  cities,  leaves 
the  state  and  national  governments  to  the  political  machines  and 
great  financial  interests.  Government  for  the  people  depends  on 
government  by  the  people,  and  this  is  difficult  where  the  people 
cannot  think  and  act  together.  Such  is  the  problem  of  Amer- 
icanization. I 

In  the~earlier  days  the  most  powerful  agency  of  assimilation 
was  frontier  life.  The  pioneers  "were  left  almost  entirely  to 

4  A.  H.  Stone,  "The  Mulatto  Factor  in  the  Race  Problem,"  Atlantic 
Monthly,  May,  1903. 


AMERICANIZATION  in 

their  own  resources  in  this  great  struggle.  They  developed  a 
spirit  of  self-reliance,  a  capacity  for  self-government,  which  are 
the  most  prominent  characteristics  of  the  American  people."8 
Frontier  life  includes  pioneer  mining  camps,  as  well  as  pioneer 
farming.8 

Next  to  the  frontier  the  farms  of  America  are  the  richest 
field  of  assimilation.  Here  the  process  is  sometimes  thought  to 
be  slower  than  it  is  in  the  cities,  but  anyone  who  has  seen  it  un- 
der both  conditions  cannot  doubt  that  if  it  is  slower  it  is  more 
real.  In  the  cities  the  children  are  more  thoroughly  brought  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  public  schools,  but  more  profound  and 
lasting  than  the  education  of  the  schools  is  the  education  of  the 
street  and  community.  The  work  of  the  schools  in  a  great  city 
like  New  York  cannot  be  too  highly  praised,  and  without  such 
work  the  future  of  the  immigrant's  child  would  be  dark.7  But  it 
is  the  community  that  gives  him  his  actual  working  ideals  and 
his  habits  and  methods  of  life.  And  in  a  great  city,  with  its 
separation  of  classes,  this  community  is  the  slums,  with  its 
mingling  of  all  races  and  the  worst  of  the  Americans.  He  sees 
and  knows  surprisingly  little  of  the  America  that  his  school  books 
describe.  The  American  churches,  his  American  employers,  are 
in  other  parts  of  the  city,  and  his  Americanization  is  left  to  the 
school  teacher,  the  policeman,  and  the  politician,  who  generally 
are  but  one  generation  before  him  from  Europe.  But  on  the 
farm  he  sees  and  knows  all  classes,  the  best  and  the  worst,  and 
even  where  his  parents  strive  to  isolate  their  community  and  to 
preserve  the  language  and  the  methods  of  the  old  country,  only 
a  generation  or  two  is  required  for  the  surrounding  American- 
ism to  permeate. 

The  above  refers  to  the  children  of  immigrants.  The  immi- 
grants themselves  are  too  old  for  Americanization,  especially 
when  they  speak  a  non-English  language.  To  them  the  labor 
union  is  at  present  the  strongest  Americanizing  force.  The  union 
teaches  them  self-government  through  obedience  to  officers 
elected  by  themselves.  It  frees  them  from  the  spirit  of  sub- 
servience and  gives  them  their  primary  lesson  in  democracy, 
which  is  liberty  through  law.8 

8  Mayo-Smith,   "Assimilation  of   Nationalities,"  page   440. 

6  Shinn,    "Mining   Camps."      See   bibliography. 

7  See    World's    Work,   July,    1903,    "New   Citizens    for   the    Republic." 

8  See    article    on    "Americanization    Through    Labor    Unions,"    in    The 
World  Today,  October,   1903. 


1 12  AMERICANIZATION 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    PROBLEM— THE 
IMMIGRANT 

JANE  ADDAMS 
FOUNDER  OF  HULL  HOUSE,  CHICAGO 

Curiously  enough,  however,  as  soon  as  the  immigrant  situa- 
tion is  frankly  regarded  as  an  industrial  one,  the  really  political 
nature  of  the  essentially  industrial  situation  is  revealed  in  the 
fact  that  trade  organizations  which  openly  concern  themselves 
with  the  immigration  problem  on  its  industrial  side  quickly  take 
on  the  paraphernalia  and  machinery  which  have  hitherto  asso- 
ciated themselves  with  governmental  life  and  control.  The 
trades  unions  have  worked  out  all  over  again  local  autonomy 
with  central  councils  and  national  representative  bodies  and  the 
use  of  the  referendum  vote.  They  also  exhibit  many  features 
of  political  corruption  and  manipulation,  but  they  still  contain 
the  purifying  power  of  reality,  for  the  trades  unions  are  engaged 
in  a  desperate  struggle  to  maintain  a  standard  wage  against  the 
constant  arrival  of  unskilled  immigrants  at  the  rate  of  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  a  year,  at  the  very  period  wrhen  the  elabora- 
tion of  machinery  permits  the  largest  use  of  unskilled  men.  The 
first  real  lesson  in  self-government  to  many  immigrants  has  come 
thru  the  organization  of  labor  unions,  and  it  could  come  in  no 
other  way,  for  the  union  alone  has  appealed  to  their  necessities. 
And  out  of  these  primal  necessities  one  sees  the  first  indication 
of  an  idealism  of  which  one  at  moments  dares  to  hope  that  it 
may  be  sturdy  enough  and  sufficiently  founded  upon  experience 
to  make  some  impression  upon  the  tremendous  immigration  sit- 
uation. 

****** 

It  may  be  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  workingman  is  brought 
in  direct  contact  with  the  situation  as  a  desperate  problem  of 
living  wage  or  starvation ;  it  may  be  that  wisdom  is  at  her  old 
trick  of  residing  in  the  hearts  of  the  simple,  or  that  this  new 
idealism,  which  is  that  of  a  reasonable  life  and  labor,  must  from 
the  very  nature  of  things  proceed  from  those  who  labor ;  or  pos- 
sibly because  amelioration  arises  whence  it  is  so  sorely  needed ; 
but  certainly  it  is  true  that,  while  the  rest  of  the  country  talks 
of  assimilation  as  if  we  were  a  huge  digestive  apparatus,  the  man 


AMERICANIZATION  113 

with  whom  the  immigrant  has  come  most  sharply  into  competi- 
tion has  been  forced  into  fraternal  relations  with  him. 

All  the  peoples  of  the  world  have  become  part  of  our  tribunal, 
and  their  sense  of  pity,  their  clamor  for  personal  kindness,  their 
insistence  upon  the  right  to  join  in  our  progress,  cannot  be  dis- 
regarded. The  burdens  and  sorrows  of  men  have  unexpectedly 
become  intelligible  and  urgent  to  this  nation,  and  it  is  only  by 
accepting  them  with  some  magnanimity  that  we  can  develop  the 
larger  sense  of  justice  which  is  becoming  world-wide  and  is  lying 
in  ambush,  as  it  were,  to  manifest  itself  in  governmental  rela- 
tions. 

To  be  afraid  of  it  is  to  lose  what  we  have.  A  government 
has  always  received  feeble  support  from  its  constituents  as  soon 
as  its  demands  appear  childish  or  remote.  Citizens  inevitably 
neglect  or  abandon  civic  duty  when  it  no  longer  embodies  their 
genuine  desires.  It  is  useless  to  hypnotize  ourselves  by  unreal 
talk  of  colonial  ideals  and  patriotic  duty  toward  immigrants  as 
if  it  were  a  question  of  passing  a  set  of  resolutions.  The  nation 
must  be  saved  by  its  lovers,  by  the  patriots  who  possess  adequate 
and  contemporaneous  knowledge.  A  commingling  of  racial 
habits  and  national  characteristics  in  the  end  must  rest  upon  the 
voluntary  balance  and  concord  of  many  forces. 

We  may  with  justice  demand  from  the  scholar  the  philosophic 
statement,  the  reconstruction,  and  reorganization  of  the  knowl- 
edge which  he  possesses,  only  if  we  agree  to  make  it  over  into 
healthy  and  direct  expressions  of  free  living. 

Recent  Immigration:  a  Field  Neglected  by  the  Scholar.  Educational 
Review.  29:245-63.  March,  1905.  Chicago  University  Record. 


WHO   ARE  THE   MOUNTAINEERS? 

HORACE  KEPHART 
MOUNTAINEER,  AUTHOR,  STUDENT  OF  AMERICAN  WOODCRAFT 

The  southern  mountaineers  are  pre-eminently  a  rural  folk. 
When  the  twentieth  century  opened,  only  four  per  cent  of  them 
dwelt  in  cities  of  8,000  inhabitants  and  upwards.  There  were 
but  seven  such  cities  in  all  Appalachia — a  region  larger  than 
England  and  Scotland  combined— and  these  owed  their  develop- 
ment to  outside  influences.  Only  77  out  of  186  mountain  coun- 
ties had  towns  of  1,000  and  upwards. 


1 14  AMERICANIZATION 

Our  Highlanders  are  the  most  homogeneous  people  in  the 
United  States.  In  1900,  out  of  a  total  population  of  3,039,835, 
there  were  only  18,617  of  foreign  birth.  This  includes  the  cities 
and  industrial  camps.  Back  in  the  mountains,  a  man  using  any 
other  tongue  than  English,  or  speaking  broken  English,  was  re- 
garded as  a  freak.  Nine  mountain  counties  of  Virginia,  four 
of  West  Virginia,  fifteen  of  Kentucky,  ten  of  Tennessee,  nine 
of  North  Carolina,  eight  of  Georgia,  two  of  Alabama,  and  one 
of  South  Carolina  had  less  than  ten  foreign-born  residents  each. 
Three  of  them  had  none  at  all. 

Compare  the  North  Atlantic  states.  In  this  same  census 
year,  57  per  cent  of  their  people  lived  in  cities  of  8,000  and  up- 
wards. As  for  foreigners — the  one  city  of  Fall  River,  Mass., 
with  104,863  inhabitants,  had  50,042  of  foreign  birth. 

The  mountains  proper  are  free  not  only  from  foreigners  but 
from  negroes  as  well.  There  are  many  blacks  in  the  larger  val- 
leys and  towns,  but  throughout  most  of  Appalachia  the  popula- 
tion is  almost  exclusively  white.  In  1000,  Jackson  County,  Ky., 
(the  same  that  sent  every  one  of  its  sons  into  the  Union  army 
who  could  bear  arms),  had  only  nineteen  negroes  among  10,542 
white;  Johnson  County,  Ky.,  only  one  black  resident  among 
13,729  white;  Dickenson  County,  Va.,  not  a  single  negro  within 
its  borders. 

In  many  mountain  settlements  negroes  are  not  allowed  to 
tarry.  It  has  been  assumed  that  this  prejudice  against  colored 
folk  had  its  origin  far  back  in  the  time  when  "poor  whites" 
found  themselves  thrust  aside  by  competition  with  slave  labor. 
This  is  an  error.  Our  mountaineers  never  had  to  compete  with 
slavery.  Few  of  them  knew  anything  about  it  except  from  hear- 
say. Their  dislike  of  negroes  is  simply  an  instinctive  racial 
antipathy,  plus  contempt  for  anyone  who  submits  to  servile  condi- 
tions. A  neighbor  in  the  Smokies  said  to  me :  "I  b'lieve  treatin' 
niggers  squar.  The  Bible  says  they're  human— leastways  some 
says  it  does — and  so  there'd  orter  be  a  place  for  them.  But  it's 
some  place  else — not  around  me !  "  That  is  the  whole  thing  in  a 
nutshell. 

Here,  then,  is  Appalachia :  one  of  the  great  land-locked  areas 
of  the  globe,  more  English  in  speech  than  Britain  itself,  more 
American  by  blood  than  any  other  part  of  America,  encompassed 
by  a  high-tensioned  civilization,  yet  less  affected  to-day  by 


AMERICANIZATION  1 15 

modern  ideas,  less  cognizant  of  modern  progress,  than  any  other 
part  of  the  English-speaking  world. 

Of  course,  such  an  anomaly  cannot  continue.  Commercial- 
ism has  discovered  the  mountains  at  last,  and  no  sentiment,  how- 
ever honest,  however  hallowed,  can  keep  it  out.  The  transfor- 
mation is  swift.  Suddenly  the  mountaineer  is  awakened  from 
his  eighteenth-century  bed  by  the  blare  of  steam  whistles  and 
the  boom  of  dynamite.  He  sees  his  forests  leveled  and  whisked 
away;  his  rivers  dammed  by  concrete  walls  and  shot  into  tur- 
bines that  outpower  all  the  horses  in  Appalachia.  He  is  dazed 
by  electric  lights,  nonplussed  by  speaking  wires,  awed  by  vast 
transfers  of  property,  incensed  by  rude  demands.  Aroused, 
now,  and  wide-eyed,  he  realizes  with  sinking  heart  that  here  is 
a  sudden  end  of  that  Old  Dispensation  under  which  he  and  his 
ancestors  were  born,  the  beginning  of  a  New  Order  that  heeds 
him  and  his  neighbors  not  a  whit. 

All  this  insults  his  conservatism.  The  old  way  was  the  es- 
tablished order  of  the  universe:  to  change  it  is  fairly  impious. 
What  is  the  good  of  all  this  fuss  and  fury?  That  fifty-story 
building  they  tell  about,  in  their  big  city — what  is  it  but  another 
Tower  of  Babel?  And  these  silly,  stuck-up  strangers  who  brag 
and  brag  about  "modern  improvements" — what  are  they,  under 
their  fine  manners  and  fine  clothes?  Hirelings  all.  Shrewdly 
he  observes  them  in  their  relations  to  each  other. — 

"Each  man  is  some  man's  servant;  every  soul 
Is  by  some  other's  presence  quite  discrowned." 

Proudly  he  contrasts  his  ragged  self:  he  who  never  has  ac- 
knowledged a  superior,  never  has  taken  an  order  from  living 
man,  save  as  a  patriot  in  time  of  war.  And  he  turns  upon  his 
heel. 

Yet,  before  he  can  fairly  credit  it  as  a  reality,  the  lanls 
around  his  own  home  are  bought  up  by  corporations.  All  about 
him,  slash,  crash,  go  the  devastating  forces.  His  old  neighbors 
vanish.  New  and  unwelcome  ones  swarm  in.  He  is  crowded, 
but  ignored.  His  hard-earned  patrimony  is  robbed  of  all  that 
made  it  precious:  its  home-like  seclusion,  independence,  dignitv. 
He  sells  out,  and  moves  away  to  some  uninvaded  place  where 
he  "will  not  be  bothered." 

"I  don't  like  these  improvements,"  said  an  old  mountaineer  to 


1 16  AMERICANIZATION 

me.     "Some  calls  them  'progress,'  and  says  they  put  money  to 
circulatin'.     So  they  do;  but  -who  gits  it?" 

There  is  a  class  of  highlanders  more  sanguine,  more  adapt- 
able, that  welcomes  all  outsiders  who  come  with  skill  and  cap- 
ital to  develop  their  country.  Many  of  these  are  shrewd  traders 
in  merchandise  or  in  real  estate,  or  they  are  capable  foremen 
who  can  handle  native  labor  much  better  than  any  strangers 
could.  Such  men  naturally  profit  by  the  change. 

Others,  deluded  by  what  seems  easy  money,  sell  their  little 
homesteads  for  just  enough  cash  to  set  them  up  as  laborers  in 
town  or  camp.  Being  untrained  to  any  trade,  they  can  get  only 
the  lowest  wages,  which  are  quickly  dissipated  in  rent  and  in 
foods  that  formerly  they  raised  for  themselves.  Unused  to  con- 
tinuous labor,  they  irk  under  its  discipline,  drop  out,  and  fall 
into  desultory  habits.  Meantime  false  ambitions  arise,  especially 
among  the  womenfolk.  Store  credit  soon  runs  such  a  family  in 
debt. 

"When  I  was  a  young  man,"  said  one  of  the  neighbors,  "the 
traders  never  thought  of  bringin'  meal  in  here.  If  a  man  run 
out  of  meal,  why,  he  was  out,  and  he  had  to  live  on  taters  or 
somethin'  else.  Nowadays  we  dress  better,  and  live  better,  but 
some  other  feller  allers  has  his  hands  in  our  pockets." 

Then  it  is  "good-by"  to  the  old  independence  that  made  such 
characters  manly.  Enmeshed  in  obligations  that  they  cannot 
meet,  they  struggle  vainly,  brood  hopelessly,  and  lose  that  dear- 
est of  all  possessions,  their  self-respect.  Servility  is  literal  hell 
to  a  mountaineer,  and  when  it  is  forced  upon  him  he  turns  into 
a  mean,  underhanded,  slinking  fellow,  easily  tempted  into  crime. 

The  curse  of  our  invading  civilization  is  that  its  vanguard 
is  composed  of  men  who  care  nothing  for  the  welfare  of  the 
people  they  dispossess.  A  northern  lumberman  admitted  to  me, 
with  frankness  unusual  in  his  class,  that  "All  we  want  here  is  to 
get  the  most  we  can  out  of  this  country,  as  quick  as  we  can,  and 
then  get  out."  This  is  all  we  can  expect  of  those  who  exploit 
raw  materials,  or  of  manufactures  that  employ  only  cheap  labor. 
Until  we  have  industries  that  demand  skilled  workmen,  and  until 
manual  training  schools  are  established  in  the  mountains,  we 
may  look  for  deterioration,  rather  than  betterment,  of  those 
highlanders  who  leave  their  farms. 

All    who   know   the   mountaineers   intimately   have   observed 
that  the  sudden  inroad  of  commercialism  has  a  bad  effect  upon 


AMERICANIZATION  117 

them.  As  President  Frost  says,  "Ruthless  change  is  knocking 
at  the  door  of  every  mountain  cabin.  The  jackals  of  civiliza- 
tion have  already  abused  the  confidence  of  many  a  highland 
home.  The  lumber,  coal,  and  mineral  wealth  of  the  mountains 
is  to  be  possessed,  and  the  unprincipled  vanguard  of  commercail- 
ism  can  easily  debauch  a  simple  people.  The  question  is 
whether  the  mountain  people  can  be  enlightened  and  guided  so 
that  they  can  have  a  part  in  the  development  of  their  own  coun- 
try, or  whether  they  must  give  place  to  foreigners  and  melt  away 
like  so  many  Indians." 

It  is  easy  to  say  that  the  fittest  will  survive.  But  the  fittest 
for  what?  Miss  Miles  answers:  "I  have  heard  it  said  that 
civilization,  when  it  touches  the  people  of  trie  backwoods,  acts 
as  a  useful  precipitant  in  thus  sending  the  dregs  to  the  bottom. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  only  the  shrewder  and  more  de- 
termined, not  the  truly  fit,  that  survive  the  struggle.  Among 
these  very  submerged  ones,  reduced  to  dependence  on  an  alien 
people,  there  are  thousands  who  inherit  the  skill  of  their  fore- 
fathers who  fashioned  their  own  locks,  musical  instruments,  and 
guns.  And  these  very  women  who  are  breaking  their  health 
and  spirit  over  a  thankless  tub  of  suds  ought  surely  to  turn  their 
talents  to  better  account,  ought  to  be  designing  and  weaving  cov- 
erlets and  Roman-striped  rugs,  or  'piecing'  the  .quilt  patterns 
now  so  popular.  Need  these  razors  be  used  to  cut  grindstones? 
Must  this  free  folk  who  are  in  many  ways  the  truest  Americans 
of  America  be  brought  under  the  yoke  of  caste  division,  to  the 
degradation  of  all  their  finer  qualities,  merely  for  lack  of  the 
right  work  to  do?" 

"People  who  have  been  among  the  southern  mountaineers 
testify,"  says  Mr.  Fox,  "that,  as  a  race,  they  are  proud,  sensitive, 
hospitable,  kindly,  obliging  in  an  unreckoning  way  that  is  almost 
pathetic,  honest,  loyal,  in  spite  of  their  common  ignorance,  pov- 
erty, and  isolation ;  that  they  are  naturally  capable,  eager  to 
learn,  easy  to  uplift.  Americans  to  the  core,  they  make  the 
southern  mountains  a  storehouse  of  patriotism;  in  themselves 
they  are  an  important  offset  to  the  Old  World  outcasts  whom  we 
have  welcomed  to  our  shores;  and  they  surely  deserve  as  much 
consideration  from  the  nation  as  the  negroes,  or  as  the  heathen, 
to  whom  we  give  millions." 

President  Frost,  of  Berea  College,  who  has  worked  among 
these  people  for  nearly  a  lifetime,and  has  helped  to  educate 


1 18  AMERICANIZATION 

their  young  folks  by  thousands,  says :  "It  does  one's  heart  good 
to  help  a  young  Lincoln  who  comes  walking  in  perhaps  a  three- 
days'  journey  on  foot,  with  a  few  hard-earned  dollars  in  his 
pocket  and  a  great  eagerness  for  the  education  he  can  so  faintly 
comprehend.  (Scores  of  our  young  people  see  their  first  rail- 
road train  at  Berea.)  And  it  is  a  joy  to  welcome  the  mountain 
girl  who  comes  back  after  having  taught  her  first  school,  bring- 
ing the  money  to  pay  her  debts  and  buy  her  first  comfortable 
outfit — including  rubbers  and  suitable  underclothing — and  per- 
haps bringing  with  her  a  younger  sister.  Such  a  girl  exerts  a 
great  influence  in  her  school  and  mountain  home.  An  enthus- 
iastic mountaineer  described  an  example  in  this  wise:  'I  tell 
yeou  hit  teks  a  moughty  resolute  gal  ter  do  what  that  thar  gal 
has  done.  She  got,  I  reckon,  about  the  toughest  deestric'  in  the 
ceounty,  which  is  sayin'  a  good  deal.  An'  then  fer  boardin-place 
— well,  there  warn't  much  choice.  There  was  one  house,  with 
one  room.  But  she  kep  right  on,  an'  yeou  would  hev  thought 
she  was  havin'  the  finest  kind  of  a  time,  ter  look  at  her.  An' 
then  the  last  day,  when  they  was  sayin'  their  pieces  and  sich, 
some  sorry  fellers  come  in  thar  full  o'  moonshine  an'  shot  their 
revolvers.  I'm  a-tellin'  ye  hit  takes  a  moughty  resolute  gal." 

The  great  need  of  our  mountaineers  to-day  is  trained  leaders 
of  their  own.  The  future  of  Appalachia  lies  mostly  in  the  hands 
of  those  resolute  native  boys  and  girls  who  win  the  education 
fitting  them  for  such  leadership.  Here  is  where  the  nation  at 
large  is  summoned  by  a  solemn  duty.  And  it  should  act  quickly, 
because  commercialism  exploits  and  debauches  quickly.  But  the 
schools  needed  here  are  not  ordinary  graded  schools.  They 
should  be  vocational  schools  that  will  turn  out  good  farmers, 
good  mechanics,  good  housewives.  Meantime  let  a  model  farm 
be  established  in  every  mountain  county  showing  how  to  get  the 
most  out  of  mountain  land.  Such  object  lessons  would  speedily 
work  an  economic  revolution.  It  is  an  economic  problem,  fun- 
damentally, that  the  mountaineer  has  to  face. 

Our  Southern  Highlanders,  pp.  378-395.  New  York.  Outing  Pub- 
lishing Co.,  1913. 


AMERICANIZATION  1 19 


THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

W.    E.    BURGHARDT    DuBoiS. 
STUDENT,   EDITOR,   RACE   EDUCATOR,   LEADER 

There  were  half  a  million  slaves  in  the  confines  of  the  United 
States  when  the  Declaration  of  Independence  declared  "that  all 
men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  unalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  The  land  that  thus  magniloquently 
heralded  its  advent  into  the  family  of  nations  had  supported  the 
institution  of  slavery  for  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  years  and 
was  destined  to  cling  to  it  eighty-seven  years  longer. 

The  greatest  experiment  in  Negro  slavery  as  a  modern  in- 
dustrial system  was  made  on  the  mainland  of  North  America 
and  in  the  confines  of  the  present  United  States.  And  this  ex- 
periment was  on  such  a  scale  and  so  long-continued  that  it  is 
profitable  for  study  and  reflection. 

The  importation  of  Negroes  to  the  mainland  of  North  America 
was  small  until  the  British  got  the  coveted  privilege  of  the 
Asiento  in  1713.  Before  that  Northern  States  like  New  York 
had  received  some  slaves  from  the  Dutch,  and  New  England 
had  early  developed  a  trade  by  which  she  imported  a  number  of 
house  servants.  Ships  went  out  to  the  African  coast  with  rum, 
sold  the  rum  and  brought  the  slaves  to  the  West  Indies ;  there 
they  exchanged  the  slaves  for  sugar  and  molasses  and  brought 
the  molasses  back  to  New  England,  to  be  made  into  rum  for 
further  exploits.  After  the  Asiento  treaty  the  Negro  population 
increased  in  the  eighteenth  century  from  about  50,000  in  1710 
to  220,000  in  1750  and  to  462,000  in  1770.  When  the  colonies  be- 
came independent,  the  foreign  slave  trade  was  soon  made  illegal ; 
but  illicit  trade,  annexation  of  territory  and  natural  increase 
enlarged  the  Negro  population  from  a  little  over  a  million  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  four  and  a  half  millions 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  and  to  about  ten  and  a  quarter 
millions  in  1914. 

The  present  so-called  Negro  population  of  the  United  States 
is: 

i.    A   mixture  of   the  various   African   population,     Bantu, 


120  AMERICANIZATION 

Sudanese,  west-coast  Negroes,  some  dwarfs,  and  some  traces  of 
Arab,  Berber,  and  Semitic  blood. 

2.  A  mixture  of  these  strains  with  the  blood  of  white  Amer- 
icans through  a  system  of  concubinage  of  colored  women  in 
slavery  days,  together  with  some  legal  intermarriage. 

The  figures  as  to  mulattoes  have  been  from  time  to  time  offi- 
cially acknowledged  to  be  understatements.  Probably  one-third  of 
the  Negroes  of  the  United  States  have  distinct  traces  of  white 
blood.  This  blending  of  the  races  has  led  to  interesting  human 
types,  but  racial  prejudice  has  hitherto  prevented  any  scientific 
study  of  the  matter.  In  general  the  Negro  population  in  the 
United  States  is  brown  in  color,  darkening  to  almost  black  and 
shading  off  in  other  directions  to  yellow  and  white,  and  is  indis- 
tinguishable in  some  cases  from  the  white  population. 

The  transplanting  of  the  Negro  from  his  African  clan  life  to 
the  West  Indian  plantation  was  a  social  revolution.  Marriage 
became  geographical  and  transient,  while  women  and  girls  were 
without  protection. 

The  private  home  as  a  self-protective,  independent  unit  did 
not  exist.  That  powerful  institution,  the  polygamous  African 
home,  was  almost  completely  destroyed,  and  in  its  place  in 
America  arose  sexual  promiscuity,  a  weak  community  life,  with 
common  dwelling,  meals,  and  child  nurseries.  The  internal  slave 
trade  tended  further  to  weaken  natural  ties.  A  small  number 
of  favored  house  servants  and  artisans  were  raised  above  this — 
had  their  private  homes,  came  in  contact  with  the  culture  of  the 
master  class,  and  assimilated  much  of  American  civilization. 
This  was,  however,  exceptional ;  broadly  speaking,  the  greatest 
social  effect  of  American  slavery  was  to  substitute  for  the 
polygamous  Negro  home  a  new  polygamy  less  guarded,  less 
effective,  and  less  civilized. 

At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  slavery  completely  destroyed 
every  vestige  of  spontaneous  movement  among  the  Negroes. 
This  is  not  strictly  true.  The  vast  power  of  the  priest  in  the 
African  state  is  well  known ;  his  realm  alone — the  province  of 
religion  and  medicine — remained  largely  unaffected  by  the  plan- 
tation system.  The  Negro  priest,  therefore,  early  became  an  im- 
portant figure  on  the  plantation  and  found  his  function  as  the 
interpreter  of  the  supernatural,  the  comforter  of  the  sorrowing, 
and  as  the  one  who  expressed,  rudely  but  picturesquely,  the 
longing  and  disappointment  and  resentment  of  a  stolen  people. 


AMERICANIZATION  121 

From  such  beginnings  arose  anu  spread  with  marvelous  rapidity 
the  Negro  church,  the  first  distinctively  Negro  American  social 
institution.  It  was  not  at  first  by  any  means  a  Christian  church, 
but  a  mere  adaptation  of  those  rites  of  fetish  which  in  America 
is  termed  obe  worship  or  "voodooism."  Association  and  mission- 
ary effort  soon  gave  these  rites  a  veneer  of  Christianity  and 
gradually,  after  two  centuries,  the  church  became  Christian,  with 
a  simple  Calvinistic  creed,  but  with  many  of  the  old  customs 
still  clinging  to  the  services.  It  is  this  historic  fact,  that  the 
Negro  church  of  today  bases  itself  upon  the  sole  surviving  social 
institution  of  the  African  fatherland,  that  accounts  for  its  ex- 
traordinary growth  and  vitality. 

Up  through  this  American  feudalism  the  Negro  began  to  rise. 
He  learned  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  English  language,  he 
began  to  be  identified  with  the  Christian  church,  he  mingled  his 
blood  to  a  considerable  extent  with  the  master  class.  The  house 
servants  particularly  were  favored,  in  some  cases  receiving  edu- 
cation, and  the  number  of  free  Negroes  gradually  increased. 

Present-day  students  are  often  puzzled  at  the  apparent  con- 
tradiction- of  Southern  slavery.  One  hears,  on  the  one  hand,  of 
the  staid  and  gentle  patriarchy,  the  wide  and  sleepy  plantations 
with  lord  and  retainers,  ease  and  happiness;  on  the  other  hand 
one  hears  of  barbarous  cruelty  and  unbridled  power  and  wide 
oppression  of  men.  Which  is  the  true  picture?  The  answer  is 
simple :  both  are  true.  They  are  not  opposite  sides  of  the  same 
shield ;  they  are  different  shields.  They  are  pictures,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  house  service  in  the  great  country  seats  and  in  the  towns, 
and  on  the  other  hand  of  the  field  laborers  wlio  raised  the  great 
tobacco,  rice,  and  cotton  crops.  We  have  thus  not  carelessly 
mixed  pictures  of  what  were  really  different  kinds  of  slavery, 
but  of  that  which  represented  different  degrees  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  economic  system.  House  service  was  the  older 
feudal  idea  of  personal  retainership,  developed  in  Virginia  and 
Carolina  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  It  had  all 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  such  a  system;  the  advan- 
tage of  strong  personal  tie  and  the  disadvantage  of  unyielding, 
caste  distinctions,  with  the  resultant  immoralities.  At  its  worst, 
however,  it  was  a  matter  primarily  of  human  relationships. 

Out  of  this  older  type  of  slavery  in  the  northern  South  there 
developed,  during  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  in  the 
southern  South  the  type  of  slaver}7  which  corresponds  to  the 


122  AMERICANIZATION 

modern  factory  system  in  its  worst  conceivable  form.  It  repre- 
sented production  of  a  staple  product  on  a  large  scale;  between 
the  owner  and  laborer  were  interposed  the  overseer  and  the 
drivers.  The  slaves  were  whipped  and  driven  to  a  mechanical 
task  system.  Wide  territory  was  needed,  so  that  at  last  absentee 
landlordship  was  common.  It  was  this  latter  type  of  slavery  that 
marked  the  cotton  kingdom,  and  the  extension  of  the  area  of 
this  system  southward  and  westward  marked  the  aggressive 
world — conquering  visions  of  the  slave  barons.  On  the  other 
hand  it  was  the  milder  and  far  different  Virginia  house  service 
and  the  personal  retainership  of  town  life  in  which  most  white 
children  grew  up ;  it  was  this  which  impressed  their  imaginations 
and  which  they  have  so  vividly  portrayed.  The  Negroes,  how- 
ever, knew  the  other  side,  for  it  was  under  the  harsher,  heartless 
driving  of  the  fields  that  fully  nine-tenths  of  them  lived. 

There  early  began  to  be  some  internal  development  and 
growth  of  self-consciousness  among  the  Negroes:  for  instance, 
in  New  England  towns  Negro  "governors"  were  elected.  Ne- 
groes voted  in  those  days  for  instance,  in  North  Carolina  until 
1835  the  Constitution  extended  the  franchise  to  every  freeman, 
and  when  Negroes  were  disfranchised  in  1835,  several  hundred 
colored  men  were  deprived  of  the  vote.  In  fact,  as  Albert  Bush- 
nell  Hart  says,  "In  the  colonies  freed  Negroes,  like  freed  in- 
dentured white  servants,  acquired  property,  founded  families, 
and  came  into  the  political  community  if  they  had  the  energy, 
thrift,  and  fortune  to  get  the  necessary  property." 

Beneficial  and  insurance  societies  began  to  appear  among 
colored  people.  Nearly  every  town  of  any  size  in  Virginia  in 
the  early  eighteenth  century  had  Negro  organizations  for  caring 
for  the  sick  and  burying  the  dead.  As  the  number  of  free  ne- 
groes increased,  particularly  in  the  North,  these  financial  socie- 
ties began  to  be  openly  formed.  One  of  the  earliest  was  the 
Free  African  Society  of  Philadelphia.  This  eventually  became 
the  present  African  Methodist  Church,  which  has  today  half  a 
million  members  and  over  eleven  million  dollars'  worth  of 
property. 

Negroes  began  to  be  received  into  the  white  church  bodies 
in  separate  congregations,  and  before  1807  there  is  the  record 
of  the  formation  of  eight  such  Negro  churches.  This  brought 
forth  leaders  who  were,  usually,  preachers  in  these  churches. 
Richard  Allen,  the  founder  of  the  African  Methodist  Church, 


AMERICANIZATION  123 

^ 

Vvras  one;  Lot  Carey,  one  of  the  founders  of  Liberia,  was  another. 
In  the  South,  there  was  John  Chavis,  who  passed  through  a 
regular  course  of  studies  at  what  is  now  Washington  and  Lee 
University.  He  started  a  school  for  young  white  men  in  North 
Carolina  and  had  among  his  pupils  a  United  States  senator,  sons 
of  a  chief  justice  of  North  Carolina,  a  governor  of  the  state, 
and  many  others.  He  was  a  full-blooded  Negro,  but  a  Southern 
writer  says  that  "all  accounts  agree  that  John  Chavis  was  a 
gentleman.  He  was  received  socially  among  the  best  whites  and 
asked  to  table." 

In  the  war  of  1812  thirty-three  hundred  Negroes  helped  Jack- 
son win  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  numbers  fought  in  New 
York  State  and  in  the  navy  under  Perry,  Channing,  and  others. 
Phyllis  Wheatley,  a  Negro  girl,  wrote  poetry,  and  the  mulatto, 
Benjamin  Banneker,  published  one  of  the  first  American  series 
of  almanacs. 

In  1890,  the  South  was  faced  by  this  question :  Are  we  willing 
to  allow  the  Negro  to  advance  as  a  free  worker,  peasant  farmer, 
metayer,  and  small  capitalist,  with  only  such  handicaps  as 
naturally  impede  the  poor  and  ignorant,  or  is  it  necessary  to 
erect  further  artificial  barriers  to  restrain  the  advance  of  the 
Negroes?  The  answer  was  clear  and  unmistakable.  The  ad- 
vance of  the  freedmen  had  been  too  rapid  and  the  South  feared 
it;  every  effort  must  be  made  "to  keep  the  Negro  in  his  place" 
as  a  servile  caste. 

To  this  end  the  South  strove  to  make  the  disfranchisement  of 
the  Negroes  effective  and  final.  Up  to  this  time  disfranchise- 
ment was  illegal  and  based  on  intimidation.  The  new  laws 
passed  between  1890  and  1910  sought  on  their  face  to  base  the 
right  to  vote  on  property  and  education  in  such  a  way  as  to 
exclude  poor  and  illiterate  Negroes  and  admit  all  whites.  In 
fact  they  could  be  administered  so  as  to  exclude  nearly  all  Ne- 
groes. To  this  was  added  a  series  of  laws  designed  publicly  to 
humiliate  and  stigmatize  Negro  blood:  as,  for  example,  separate 
railway  cars ;  separate  seats  in  street  cars,  and  the  like ;  these 
things  v/ere  added  to  the  separation  in  schools  and  churches, 
and  the  denial  of  redress  to  seduced  colored  women,  which  had 
long  been  the  custom  in  the  South.  All  these  new  enactments 
meant  not  simply  separation,  but  subordination,  caste,  humiliation, 
and  flagrant  injustice.  To  all  this  was  added  a  series  of  labor 
laws  making  the  exploitation  of  Negro  labor  more  secure. 


124  AMERICANIZATION 

The  reaction  of  the  Negro  Americans  upon  this  wholesale  and 
open  attempt  to  reduce  them  to  serfdom  has  been  interesting. 
Naturally  they  began  to  organize  and  protest  and  in  some  cases 
to  appeal  to  the  courts.  Then,  to  their  astonishment  there  arose  a 
colored  leader,  Mr  Booker  T.  Washington,  who  advised  them 
to  yield  to  disfranchisement  and  caste  and  wait  for  greater  eco- 
nomic strength  and  general  efficiency  before  demanding  full 
rights  as  American  citizens.  The  white  South  naturally  agreed 
with  Mr.  Washington,  and  the  white  North  thought  they  saw 
here  a  chance  for  peace  in  the  racial  conflict  and  safety  for  their 
Southern  investments. 

For  a  time  the  colored  people  hesitated.  They  respected  Mr. 
Washington  for  shrewdness  and  recognized  the  wisdom  of  his 
homely  insistence  on  thrift  and  hard  work;  but  gradually  they 
came  to  see  more  and  more  clearly  that,  stripped  of  political 
power  and  emasculated  by  caste,  they  could  never  gain  sufficient 
economic  strength  to  take  their  place  as  modern  men.  They 
also  realized  that  any  lull  in  their  protests  would  be  taken  ad- 
vantage of  by  -Negro  haters  to  push  their  caste  program.  They 
began,  therefore,  with  renewed  persistence  to  fight  for  their 
fundamental  rights  as  American  citizens.  The  struggle  tended 
at  first  to  bitter  personal  dissension  within  the  group.  But  wiser 
counsels  and  the  advice  of  white  friends  eventually  prevailed  and 
raised  it  to  the  broad  level  of  a  fight  for  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  democracy.  The  launching  of  the  "Niagara  Movement" 
by  twenty-nine  daring  colored  men  in  1905,  followed  by  the  for- 
mation of  the  National  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Colored  People  in  1910,  marked  an  epoch  in  the  advance  of  the 
Negro.  This  latter  organization,  with  its  monthly  organ,  The 
Crisis,  is  now  waging  a  nation-wide  fight  for  justice  to  Negroes. 
Other  organizations,  and  a  number  of  strong  Negro  weekly 
papers,  are  aiding  in  the  fight.  What  has  been  the  net  result  of 
this  struggle  of  half  a  centu^? 

In  1863  there  were  about  five  million  persons  of  Negro 
descent  in  the  United  States.  Of  these,  four  million  and  more 
were  just  being  released  from  slavery.  These  slaves  could  be 
bought  and  sold,  could  move  from  place  to  place  only  with  per- 
mission, were  forbidden  to  learn  to  read  or  write,  and  legally 
could  never  hold  property  or  marry.  Ninety  per  cent  were  totally 
illiterate,  and  only  one  adult  in  six  was  a  nominal  Christian. 

Fifty  3rears  later,  in  1913,  there  were  in  the  United  States  ten 


AMERICANIZATION  125 

and  a  quarter  million  persons  of  Negro  descent,  an  increase  of 
one  hundred  and  five  per  cent.  Legal  slavery  has  been  abolished, 
leaving  however,  vestiges  in  debt  slavery,  peonage,  and  the  con- 
vict lease  system.  The  mass  of  the  freedmen  and  their  sons  have 

1.  Earned  a  living  as  free  and  partially  free  laborers. 

2.  Shared  the  responsibilities  of  government. 

3.  Developed  the  internal  organization  of  their  race. 

4.  Aspired  to  spiritual  self-expression. 

The  Negro  was  freed  as  a  penniless,  landless,  naked,  ignor- 
ant laborer.  There  were  a  few  free  Negroes  who  owned  prop- 
erty in  the  South,  and  a  larger  number  who  owned  property  in 
the  North ;  but  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  race  in  the  South 
were  penniless  field  hands  and  servants. 

To-day  there  are  two  and  a  half  million  laborers,  the  major- 
ity of  whom  are  efficient  wage  earners.  Above  these  are  more 
than  a  million  servants  and  tenant  farmers;  skilled  and  semi- 
skilled workers  make  another  million  and  at  the  top  of  the  eco- 
nomic column  are  600,000  owners  and  managers  of  farms  and 
businesses,  cash  tenants,  officials,  and  professional  men.  This 
makes  a  total  of  5,192,535  colored  bread-winners  in  1910. 

More  specifically  these  breadwinners  include  218,972  farm 
owners  and  319,346  cash  farm  tenants  and  managers.  There 
were  in  all  62,755  miners,  288,141  in  the  building  and  hand  trades ; 
28,515  workers  in  clay,  glass  and  stone;  41,739  iron  and  steel 
workers;  134,102  employees  on  railways;  62,822  draymen,  cab 
drivers,  and  liverymen;  133,245  in  wholesale  and  retail  trade; 
32,170  in  the  public  service,  including  29,750  teachers,  17,495 
clergymen,  and  4,546  physicians,  dentists,  trained  nurses,  etc. 
Finally  we  must  not  forget  2,175,000  Negro  homes,  with  their 
housewives,  and  1,620,000  children  in  school. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  overwhelming  mass  of  these  people  were 
not  only  penniless,  but  were  themselves  assessed  as  real  estate. 
By  1875  the  Negroes  probably  had  gotten  hold  of  something  be- 
tween 2,000,000  and  4,000,000  acres  of  land  through  their  bounties 
as  soldiers  and  the  low  price  of  land  after  the  war.  By  1880  this 
was  increased  to  about  6,000,000  acres ;  in  1890  to  about  8,000,000 
acres;  in  1900  to  over  12,000,000  acres.  In  1910  this  land  had 
increased  to  nearly  20,000,000,  a  realm  as  large  as  Ireland. 

The  120,738  farms  owned  by  Negroes  in  1890  increased  to 
218,972  in  1910,  or  eighty-one  per  cent.  The  value  of  these  farms 
increased  from  $179,796,639  in  1900  to  $440,992,439  in  1910;  Ne- 


126  AMERICANIZATION 

groes  owned  in  1910  about  500,000  homes  out  of  a  total  of 
2,175,000.  Their  total  property  in  1900  was  estimated  at  $300,000,- 
ooo  by  the  American  Economic  Association.  On  the  same  basis 
of  calculation  it  would  be  worth  to-day  not  less  than  800,000,000 
dollars. 

Despite  the  disfranchisement  of  three-fourths  of  his  voting 
population,  the  Negro  to-day  is  a  recognized  part  of  the  Amer- 
ican government.  He  holds  7,500  offices  in  the  executive  service 
of  the  nation,  besides  furnishing  four  regiments  in  the  army  and 
a  large  number  of  sailors.  In  the  state  and  municipal  service  he 
holds  nearly  20,000  other  offices,  and  he  furnishes  500,000  of  the 
votes  which  rule  the  Union. 

In  these  same  years  the  Negro  has  relearned  the  lost  art  of 
organization.  Slavery  was  the  almost  absolute  denial  of  initiative 
and  responsibility.  To-day  Negroes  have  nearly  40,000  churches, 
with  edifices  worth  at  least  $75,000,000  and  controlling  nearly 
4,000,000  members.  They  raise  themselves  $7,500,000  a  year  for 
these  churches. 

There  are  200  private  schools  and  colleges  managed  and  al- 
most entirely  supported  by  Negroes,  and  these  and  other  public 
and  private  schools  have  received  in  40  years  $45,000,000  of  Negro 
money  in  taxes  and  donations.  Five  millions  a  year  are  raised 
by  Negro  secret  and  beneficial  societies  which  hold  at  least 
$6,000,000  in  real  estate.  Negroes  support  wholly  or  in  part  over 
one  hundred  old  folks'  homes  and  orphanages,  30  hospitals,  and 
500  cemeteries.  Their  organized  commercial  life  is  extending 
rapidly  and  includes  over  22,000  small  retail  businesses  and  40 
banks. 

Above  and  beyond  this  material  growth  has  gone  the  spiritual 
uplift  of  a  great  human  race.  From  contempt  and  amusement 
they  have  passed  to  the  pity,  perplexity,  and  fear  on  the  part  of 
their  neighbors,  while  within  their  own  souls  they  have  arisen 
from  apathy  and  timid  complaint  to  open  protest  and  more  and 
more  manly  self-assertion.  Where  nine-tenths  of  them  could 
not  read  or  write  in  1860,  to-day  over  two-thirds  can ;  they  have 
300  papers  and  periodicals,  and  their  voice  and  expression  are 
compelling  attention. 

Already  in  poetry,  literature,  music,  and  painting  the  work  of 
Americans  of  Negro  descent  has  gained  notable  recognition. 
Instead  of  being  led  and  defended  by  others,  as  in  the  past, 
American  Negroes  are  gaining  their  own  leaders,  their  own 


AMERICANIZATION  127 

voices,  their  own  ideals.  Self-realization  is  thus  coming  slowly 
but  surely  to  another  of  the  world's  great  races,  and  they  are  to- 
day girding  themselves  to  fight  in  the  van  of  progress,  not  simply 
for  their  own  rights  as  men,  but  for  the  ideals  of  the  greater 
world  in  which  they  live :  the  emancipation  of  women,  universal 
peace,  democratic  government,  the  socialization  of  wealth,  and 
human  brotherhood. 

The   Negro.     Holt.     1915.     Parts    of    chapter   xi.     The    Negro    in   the 
United   States,  pp.    183-231. 


AMERICANIZING   THE    RURAL    NEGRO 

BOOKER  TALIAFERRO  WASHINGTON,   1859-1915 
PIONEER  NEGRO  EDUCATOR,  PRINCIPLE,  TUSKEGEE  NORMAL  AND  IN- 
DUSTRIAL INSTTUTE,  TUSKEGEE,  ALABAMA 

The  first  rural  Negro  communities  were  started  in  slavery 
times.  They  were  established  by  free  Negroes,  who  emigrated 
from  the  South,  in  order  to  escape  the  hardships  of  the  "Black 
Laws"  which,  particularly  in  the  latter  days  of  slavery,  bore  with 
unusual  severity  upon  the  class  known  as  "free  persons  of  color." 
The  establishment  of  the  American  colony  of  Liberia,  Africa, 
was  a  result  of  this  desire  on  the  part  of  free  colored  people  to 
find  a  place  where  they  might  escape  some  of  the  indirect  bur- 
dens of  slavery.  Liberia,  however,  merely  represented  a  wide- 
spread movement  among  Negroes,  who  had  escaped  slavery,  to 
establish  homes  and  communities  of  their  own,  not  only  in 
Africa  but  wherever  freedom  was  assured  them. 

For  a  number  of  years  before  emancipation  little  colonies  of 
free  Negroes  were  established  in  several  parts  of  Canada,  and 
in  states  of  the  Middle  West,  especially  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Il- 
linois, the  region  which,  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  was  dedicated 
forever  to  freedom.  There  were  colonies  of  free  Negroes  es- 
tablished at  this  time  in  several  other  states — New  Jersey  and 
Michigan,  for  example.  After  the  Civil  War  was  over  and  Ne- 
groes were  granted  the  same  rights  and  the  same  freedom  as 
other  citizens  these  little  rural  communities  tended  to  break  up 
and  disperse,  but  the  remnants  of  them  still  exist  in  many  parts 
of  the  country. 

The  Negro   rural  communities  which  have  grown  up   since 


128  AMERICANIZATION 

emancipation  have  had  other  and  different  motives  for  their  ex- 
istence. They  have  enerally  sprung  up  as  a  result  of  the  ef- 
forts of  Negro  farmers  to  become  landowners. 

For  the  first  twenty  years  of  freedom  there  was  no  great  dis< 
position,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  on  the  part  of  Negro  farmers  to 
become  landowners.  During  this  period  the  Negro  people  and 
particularly  the  Negro  leaders,  were  absorbed  either  in  politics  or 
in  religion,  and  constructive  efforts  of  the  race  were  chiefly  ab- 
sorbed in  organizing  their  religious  life  and  building  churches. 

After  the  masses  of  the  Negroes  lost  the  influence  in  politics, 
which  they  had  exercised  directly  after  the  war,  there  was  a 
period  of  some  years  of  great  discouragement.  Gradually,  how- 
ever, it  began  to  dawn  upon  the  more  thoughtful  members  of 
the  race  that  there  was  hope  for  them  in  other  directions. 

They  found,  for  example,  that  in  communities  where  there 
was  very  little  encouragement  for  a  Negro  to  vote  there  was 
nothing  which  prevented  him  from  owning  property.  They 
learned,  also,  that  where  their  white  neighbors  were  opposed  to 
a  Negro  postmaster  they  had  not  the  slightest  objection  to  a  Ne- 
gro banker.  The  result  was  that  the  leaders  of  the  race  began 
to  turn  their  attention  to  business  enterprises,  while  the  masses 
of  the  people  were  learning  to  save  their  money  and  buy  land. 

The  first  Negro  bank  was  established  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighties.  At  the  present  time  there  are  something  over  sixty  Ne- 
gro banks  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  In  the  mean- 
time the  Negro  farmers,  particularly  in  recent  years,  have  been 
getting  hold  of  the  land  on  which  they  work.  There  are,  for  ex- 
ample, at  least  three  counties  in  the  South  in  each  of  which  Ne- 
groes own  and  pay  taxes  on  something  like  fifty  or  sixty 
thousand  acres.  In  Louisa  County,  Virginia,  Negroes  own  53,- 
268  acres ;  in  Liberty  County,  Georgia,  they  own  55,048  and  in 
Macon  County,  Alabama,  Negroes  pay  taxes  on  61,689  acres  of 
land. 

The  first  rural  Negro  communities  that  were  established  after 
the  war  grew  up  almost  invariably  around  a  little  country  church. 
The  church  was  at  this  time  the  center  around  which  everything 
revolved.  It  was  in  fact  the  only  distinctively  Negro  institution 
that  existed.  It  was  in  the  church  or,  perhaps,  in  the  grove  sur- 
rounding it,  that  the  political  meetings  were  held  in  the  days 
when  the  masses  of  the  people  were  still  engaged  in  politics. 
After  politics  had  ceased,  to  some  extent,  to  be  a  live  interest 


AMERICANIZATION  120 

the  church  still  remained  the  center  of  the  intellectual,  as  well  as 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  people. 

In  more  recent  years,  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  the  school 
has,  to  a  large  extent,  taken  the  place  of  the  church  as  the  center 
of  life  in  the  rural  districts.  In  the  early  years  of  freedom  the 
place  of  every  individual  was  fixed  in  the  community  by  the  fact 
that  he  supported  either  the  Baptist  or  the  Methodist  denomina- 
tion. At  present,  however,  the  management  and  welfare  of  the 
school  occupies,  in  many  parts  of  the  country  at  least,  as  large  a 
part  of  the  interest  and  attention  of  the  community  as  the 
church. 

In  many  cases  the  people  have  united  to  tax  themselves,  in 
order  to  build  schoolhouses  and  to  lengthen  the  school  terms. 
Most  of  the  efforts  made  by  outside  agencies,  like  the  Anna  F. 
Jeanes  Fund,  to  improve  the  rural  public  schools  have  been  di- 
rected to  bringing  the  work  of  the  school  into  closer  relations 
with  the  practical  interests  of  the  rural  communities. 

Although  in  the  Southern  States  the  school  officials  are  invari- 
ably white  men,  the  Negro  communities  frequently  elect  trustees 
of  their  own.  These  colored  trustees  have  no  legal  standing,  but 
the  conduct  of  the  school  is  very  largely  in  their  hands  and  in 
the  hands  of  the  "patrons,"  that  is  to  say  those  individuals  in  the 
community  who  contribute  something  to  the  support  of  the 
schools. 

On  the  whole,  I  believe  that  the  control  which,  in  this  indirect 
way,  Negroes  have  come  to  exercise  over  their  own  schools  has 
had  a  good  influence  not  only  on  the  people,  but  also  upon  the 
schools.  It  has  introduced  a  new  interest  into  the  life  of  the 
community.  There  is  more  to  do  and  to  think  about  than  there 
used  to  be,  and  I  believe  I  can  safely  say  that  there  is  a  greater 
disposition  among  the  people,  in  spite  of  the  attraction  of  the 
city,  to  settle  down  upon  the  land  and  make  themselves  at  home 
in  the  country  districts. 

As  soon  as  a  certain  number  of  these  schools  were  established 
advertisements  were  inserted  in  the  colored  newspapers  through- 
out the  South  advertising  the  fact  that  land  could  be  purchased 
in  small  tracts  near  an  eight  months'  school.  Very  soon  the  ad- 
vertisements began  to  attract  attention.  Colored  farmers  began 
to  move  in  from  the  adjoining  counties.  Many  of  them  came  to 
obtain  the  advantages  of  a  good  country  school  for  their  chil- 
dren. Others  came  not  merely  for  this  purpose  but  to  buy  land. 


130  AMERICANIZATION 

The  effect  was  to  bring  in  a  more  enterprising  class  of  Negro 
farmers  and  to  increase  the  price  of  land. 

Meanwhile  a  little  farmers'  newspaper,  The  Messenger,  as  it 
was  called,  had  been  started  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  the 
county,  stirring  up  interest  in  the  improvement  of  the  schools 
and  stimulating  the  efforts  of  the  farmers  to  improve  their 
methods  of  farming.  The  preachers  and  teachers  of  the  county 
organized  an  association  for  the  purpose  of  pushing  forward  the 
movement.  Demonstration  plots  were  established  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  schools  and,  under  the  direction  of  the  United 
States  Demonstration  Agent,  the  teachers  began  teaching  farm- 
ing in  the  schools.  The  preachers  encouraged  the  movement 
from  the  pulpit  and  The  Messenger,  the  farmers'  newspaper  I 
have  referred  to,  made  an  effort  to  report  every  step  that  was 
taken,  in  any  part  of  the  county,  looking  to  the  education  and 
general  improvement  of  the  people. 

Through  this  paper  the  farmers  of  the  county  were  brought 
into  closer  touch  with  the  work  of  the  Institute  and  the  influence 
of  the  school  upon  the  community  was  strengthened  and  deep- 
ened. In  fact,  it  would  not  be  far  from  the  truth  to  say  that 
the  Negro  communities  in  Macon  County  have  made  more  prog- 
ress during  the  last  five  years  than  they  did  during  the  previous 
twenty-five. 

The  work  which  was  attempted  on  a  small  scale  in  Macon 
County,  Alabama,  has  been  undertaken  in  a  larger  way  in  Vir- 
ginia where  the  state  has  created  a  state  supervisor  or  superin- 
tendent of  Negro  schools,  whose  task  has  been  to  co-operate  with 
and  to  encourage  and  direct  the  Negro  people  of  the  state  in 
their  efforts  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the  rural  schools.  More 
than  this,  under  the  leadership  of  Major  R.  R.  Moton  of  Hamp- 
ton, what  is  called  an  "organization  society"  has  been  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  bringing  about  co-operation  between  the  various 
Negro  organizations  of  the  state,  religious  and  secular,  to  improve 
the  school  system  and  bring  the  work  of  the  schools  into  closer 
touch  with  the  life  and  practical  daily  interests  of  the  people. 

The  Rural  Negro  Community.  Annals  American  Academy  of  Political 
and  Social  Science.  40:81-9.  March  'ia. 


AMERICANIZATION  131 

SIGNS  OF  GROWING  COOPERATION 
ROBERT  R.  MOTON, 

PRINCIPAL   OF   TUSKEEGEE   INSTITUTE,    FORMERLY    COMMANDANT, 
HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

In  a  meeting  held  recently  in  Virginia  an  old  colored  preacher 
in  opening  the  service  prayed  thus : — "O  God  of  all  races,  will 
you  please,  Sir,  come  in  and  take  charge  of  de  min's  of  all  dese 
yere  white  people  and  fix  dem  so  dat  dey'll  know  an'  understan' 
dat  all  of  we  color'd  folks  is  not  lazy,  dirty,  dishones'  an'  no 
'count,  an'  help  dem,  Lord,  to  see  dat  most  of  us  is  prayin,  work- 
in'  and  strivin'  to  get  some  land,  some  houses  and  some  ed' cation 
for  ourselves  an'  our  chilun,  an'  get  true  'ligion,  an'  dat  most 
every  Negro  in  Northampton  County  is  doin'  his  lebel  bes'  to  make 
frien's  and  get  along  wid  de  white  folks.  Help  dese  yere  white 
folks,  O  Lord,  to  understan'  dis  thing.  Lord,  while  You  is  takin' 
charge  of  de  min's  of  dese  white  people  don't  pass  by  de  color'd 
folks  for  dey  is  not  perfec' — dey  needs  You  as  de  white  folks  do. 
Open  de  Negro's  blin'  eyes  dat  he  may  see  dat  all  of  de  white 
folks  are  not  mean  an'  dishonest  an'  prejudice'  against  de  color'd 
folks;  dat  dere  is  hones',  hard-workin,  jus'  and  God-fearin'  white 
folks  in  dis  yere  community  who  are  tryin'  the  best'  dey  know 
how,  wid  de  cir'umstances  against  dem,  to  be  fair  in  dere  dealin's 
wid  de  color'd  folks,  and  help  dem  to  be  'spectable  men  an' 
women.  Help  us,  Lord,  black  and  white  to  understan'  each  other 
more  eve'y  day." 

The  prayer  of  this  old  colored  man  expresses  in  a  crude,  but 
effective  fashion  the  feeling  and  desires  of  the  best  Negroes  and 
the  best  white  people  of  the  South.  The  sentiment  of  this  prayer 
is  becoming  more  and  more  universal,  and  it  is  actuating  as  never 
before  the  best  thought  and  the  highest  aspirations  of  our  South- 
ern people.  This,  then,  is  the  first  fundamental  sign  of  growing 
cooperation  in  our  South.  One  who  is  reasonably  familiar  with 
Southern  conditions  cannot  but  see  on  every  hand  unmistakable 
evidences  that  the  two  races  are  growing  more  and  more  to  un- 
derstand and  sympathize  with  each  other  in  the  common  life 
which  they  now  lead  and  must  of  necessity  continue  to  lead. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  for  a  person  to  become  discouraged 
regarding  the  situation,  especially  if  he  is  governed  by  the  re- 
ports which  he  sees  in  the  average  daily  paper.  There  seems  to 


132  AMERICANIZATION 

be  a  popular  desire,  on  the  part  of  press  dispatches,  to  emphasize 
the  unsavory  side  of  Negro  life. 

How  often  one  sees  in  a  paper — front  page,  first  column,  in 
glaring  headlines  a  report  of  some  crime  alleged  to  have  been 
committed  by  a  black  man;  whereas,  in  the  very  same  paper  on 
the  last  page  and  often  in  a  most  insignificant  place  on  that  page 
with  very  modest  headlines,  one  finds  a  report  of  a  white  man 
charged  with  the  same  sort  of  crime !  If  there  is  a  misunder- 
standing between  black  and  white  people  in  any  community,  often 
in  cases  where  there  are  less  than  a  half  dozen  in  the  disturb- 
ance, the  papers  will  report  a  race  riot  and  give  the  impression 
that  practically  all  the  Negroes  and  white  people  in  the  com- 
munity are  up  in  arms  against  each  other. 

This  sort  of  propaganda  which  has  been  indulged  in  for  sev- 
eral decades  and  with  increasing  exaggeration  cannot  but  preju- 
dice many  people  of  both  races  against  the  Negro  and  cause  the 
casual  observer  to  wonder  after  all  if  it  is  possible  for  the  black 
and  white  races,  whom  God  in  His  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness 
has  seen  fit  in  His  own  way  to  place  side  by  side  in  large  numbers 
on  Southern  soil,  to  live  helpfully  and  harmoniously  together. 
But  there  is  no  real  reason  for  discouragement  because  this  is 
more  or  less  superficial  and  far  from  the  actual  facts  of  the  situ- 
ation, for  with  a  sober  second  thought  there  comes  to  mind  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  Negro  race — the  law-abiding  citizens  who 
keep  out  of  court,  out  of  the  papers,  and  the  earnest,  thoughtful 
growing  numbers  who  are  working  side  by  side  with  the  best 
white  people  for  the  Solution  of  the  race  problem. 

INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 

Immediately  after  the  War  there  was  naturally  a  certain  sort 
of  paternal  relation  that  existed  between  the  white  man  and  the 
Negro,  but  this  was  rather  of  a  patronizing  sort.  This  relation- 
ship exists  even  now  to  some  extent,  but  such  a  relationship  can- 
not long  continue.  There  must  come  a  different  and  a  more 
lasting,  and  in  the  long-run,  a  more  wholesome  relationship.  The 
younger  generations  of  the  white  and  black  races  have  now  come 
to  the  stage  of  action.  Their  dealings  are  less  cordial  and  less 
patronizing,  but  are  more  cold  and  business-like.  The  Negro 
stands  on  his  manhood.  Few  favors  are  asked  except  such  as 
may  be  reduced  to  a  basis  of  dollars  and  cents. 


AMERICANIZATION  133 

There  was  developed  during  the  days  of  slavery  a  spirit  of 
suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  Negro  against  white  people  which 
the  Reconstruction  Period  did  not  by  any  manner  of  means  lessen 
and  which  has  hampered  the  Negro,  perhaps,  more  than  it  has 
the  white  man.  This  the  Negro  is  rapidly  out-living  and  that, 
too,  is  encouraging.  Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said 
against  the  Negro  from  the  press  and  platform,  the  real  situation 
was  never  more  hopeful  and  encouraging  than  it  is  at  present. 
Even  the  casual  observer  must  see  that  there  is  growing  a  spirit 
of  real  cooperation  and  sympathy  between  the  races,  and  that 
never  before  has  there  been  a  more  earnest  and  sincere  effort 
on  the  part  of  both  races  for  mutual  help  and  cooperation.  There 
is  a  growing  and  genuinely  honest  dispostion  on  the  part  of  the 
Negro  everywhere  to  seek  the  advice  as  well  as  the  assistance 
and  cooperation  of  white  people  in  every  movement  for  the  com- 
mon good  of  the  Negroes  in  almost  every  community.  There  is 
an  increasingly  strong  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  Negro  laborers 
and  mechanics  for  unity  and  cooperation  with  similar  groups  of 
white  artisans,  and  the  white  unions  are  seeing  more  and  more 
the  necessity  for  a  closer  union  of  the  various  labor  operations, 
and  this  feeling  will  continue  to  grow  as  men  become  better 
trained,  better  educated  and  better  Christians. 

EDUCATIONAL   COOPERATION 

Iii  educational  matters  there  is  a  growing  sympathy  and  spirit 
of  cooperation  between  whites  and  blacks  as  never  before.  The 
Negro  is  calling  on  school  officials  for  a  fair  and  equitable  dis- 
tribution of  school  funds.  They  are  asking  for  better  schools, 
longer  terms,  better  pay  for  teachers,  and  better  equipment;  in 
many  cases  the  Negroes,  out  of  their  own  earnings,  are  buying 
land  for  the  school  and  often  putting  up  the  school  houses,  some- 
times supplementing  the  pay  of  the  teacher,  this  generally  being 
done  with  the  advice  and  approval  of  the  local  school  officials, 
who  are  responding  with  a  more  liberal  appropriation  for  school 
purposes  such  as  was  never  before  witnessed. 

Hampton  Institute  through  its  Principal,  Dr.  Frissell  and  its 
Trustees,  notably  the  late  Robert  C.  Ogden  and  through  the  insti- 
tutions that  have  grown  out  of  Hampton,  has  done  more  than 
perhaps  any  other  single  institution  in  making  possible  the  sort 
of  cooperation  that  counts  for  most  in  the  development  of  the 
two  races  here  in  the  South.  Hampton  Institute  more  than  any 


134  AMERICANIZATION 

other  institution,  through  its  Trustees,  Principal  and  graduates, 
has  established  a  platform  upon  which  Northern  men,  Southern 
men,  black  men  and  white  men  can  work  together  for  the  good 
of  humanity  and  the  glory  of  God.  More  phases  of  life,  more 
creeds  and  colors  are  constantly  meeting  at  Hampton  for  the 
discussion  of  vital  questions  and  inspiration  for  greater  work 
than  in  any  other  place,  perhaps,  in  America. 

Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  has  done  more  than  any  single 
man  to  bring  the  colored  people  to  realize  the  wisdom  and  abso- 
lute necessity  of  calling  on  the  white  people  for  advice  and  aid, 
and  I  need  not  say  that  the  response  in  most  cases  has  been  most 
helpful  and  gratifying,  and  this  attitude  on  the  part  of  colored 
people  has  encouraged  the  white  people  to  take  more  interest  in 
what  is  going  on  among  colored  people  in  almost  every  line  of 
endeavor. 

We  all  know  of  the  work  of  the  Jeanes  Board  through  which 
Dr.  James  H.  Dillard  has  accomplished  such  splendid  service  for 
God  and  humanity,  and  all  know  also  of  the  State  Superintend- 
ents of  the  rural  schools  of  whom  Mr.  Jackson  Davis  was  the 
pioneer.  These  two  agencies  are  linking  not  only  the  common 
rural  schools  in  the  communities  in  which  they  work  but  are 
doing  what  is  more  important — they  are  linking  the  two  races 
together  on  the  ground  of  common  brotherhood,  common  needs 
and  common  sympathy,  in  the  cities  as  well  as  in  the  country. 
Here  is  a  great  forward  movement  toward  the  cooperation  of  the 
races.  In  Savannah,  for  example,  organizations  like  the  Na- 
tional Negro  Business  League  are  cooperating  with  the  white 
people  for  a  greater  and  better  city.  The  same  is  true  in  Nash- 
ville as  well  as  here  in  Atlanta  and  in  other  Southern  cities. 

DR.  WASHINGTON'S  TRIPS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Dr.  Washington,  usually  under  the  auspices  of  the  National 
Negro  Business  League  with  other  prominent  colored  men,  has 
gone  on  what  he  calls  "Educational  Tours"  through  almost  all  of 
the  Southern  States  where  thousands  of  people,  white  and  black, 
have  gathered.  These  thousands  have  gotten  from  the  distin- 
guished Negro  leader,  frank,  yet  sane,  advice  as  to  the  best  meth- 
ods of  real  cooperation  and  a  more  helpful  relationship.  These 
addresses  have  had  as  cordial  a  response  from  white  as  from 
black  people.  It  would  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  value  of  such 


AMERICANIZATION  135 

trips  in  cementing  more  cordial  sympathetic  feeling  between  the 
t\vo  races  in  these  States. 

UNIVERSITY   RACE   COMMISSION 

The  unstinted  thanks  of  the  Negro  of  the  South  are  due  Dr. 
James  H.  Dillard  who  brought  into  being,  at  the  right  time,  the 
University  Commission  on  Race  Questions,  a  Commission  com- 
posed of  representatives  of  all  the  Southern  State  universities — 
men  who  without  sentiment,  are  getting  at  the  real  facts  regard- 
ing the  Negro,  with  a  view  to  helping  not  merely  the  Negro  but 
the  South  and  Nation  as  well.  The  Negro  is  perfectly  willing  to 
be  judged  on  his  merits  by  unbiased  men,  especially  when  they 
have  before  them  the  actual  facts. 

SOCIOLOGICAL   CONGRESS   AT    MEMPHIS 

Some  of  us  attended  in  Memphis  what  was  in  some  ways  the 
most  remarkable  gathering  I  have  ever  witnessed.  This  was  the 
third  annual  meeting  of  the  Southern  Sociological  Congress. 
There  came  together  a  large  body  of  Southern  men  representing 
all  phases  of  Southern  life,  and  an  equally  as  interesting  and 
representative  body  of  Negroes.  These  men  expressed  frankly, 
dispassionately  and  kindly  their  views  on  the  race  situation, 
offering  sane,  helpful  suggestions  as  to  adequate  remedies.  Is  it 
not  a  hopeful  sign  when  black  men  and  white  men  can  thus 
counsel  together  on  common  problems? 

COOPERATION   OF   WOMEN 

Our  Negro  women  have  shown  consummate  wisdom  and  tact 
in  securing  the  cooperation  and  help  of  the  leading  white  women 
in  their  civic  movements.  The  Women's  Civic  League  of  Balti- 
more was  led  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Fernandias,  and  all  of  our  Virginia 
movements  have  been  and  are  headed  by  the  most  prominent 
and  aristocratic  white  women.  And  here  in  Atlanta,  Mrs.  John 
Hope  could  not  have  accomplished  what  she  has  so  success- 
fully achieved  had  she  not  secured  the  help  and  cooperation  of 
the  white  women. 

NEGRO  LEADERSHIP 

The  fact  that  the  Negroes  are  themselves  becoming  better  and 
more  perfectly  organized  and  are  willing  to  accept  the  advice  and 
leadership  of  their  own  race  for  racial  betterment  and  civic  im- 


I36  AMERICANIZATION 

provement  makes  it  all  the  more  easy  for  the  leaders  of  these 
organizations  to  throw  the  weight  of  their  influence  on  the  side 
of  sane  cooperation  with  the  best  element  of  our  Southern  white 
people.  Few  private  schools  are  started  in  any  community  but 
the  Negroes  always  ask  certain  of  the  leading  white  people  to 
become  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  If  they  do  not  wish 
to  make  them  real  trustees,  which  means  owners  of  the  property, 
they  will  devise  some  kind  of  an  advisory  Board  so  as  to  link 
white  people  to  the  movement  and  thus  secure  their  advice  and 
counsel,  and  finally  their  assistance  and  often  their  influence  with 
the  County  School  officials. 

BUSINESS   COOPERATION 

There  are  in  the  South  to-day  about  seventy  Negro  banks 
owned,  controlled  and  operated  by  Negroes,  also  numerous  Build- 
ing &  Loan  Associations.  The  Presidents  or  Cashiers  of  the 
white  banks  not  only  have  given  advice  to  their  Negro  com- 
petitors as  to  the  methods  of  banking,  but  have  opened  up  their 
first  set  of  books  and  started  them  off  and  in  many  places  over- 
looked their  methods  and  work  until  the  Negro  banks  could  get 
on  their  feet.  Only  recently  a  Negro  bank  in  the  City  of  Rich- 
mond came  near  having  a  "run"  on  it  because  of  some  erroneous 
report  that  was  circulated  in  the  community  to  the  effect  that 
the  bank  was  in  trouble,  and  several  of  the  leading  white  banking 
institutions,  through  their  Presidents,  told  the  Negro  bank  to 
pay  all  claims  promptly,  and  that  they  would  furnish  the  neces- 
sary money  if  it  did  not  have  the  available  cash.  These  banks 
knew  that  the  Negro  bank  was  absolutely  safe  and  solid  and  they 
had  absolute  faith  in  the  honesty  and  integrity  of  its  black  Presi- 
dent. In  almost  every  community  the  Negro  and  white  business 
men  are  on  terms  of  harmony  and  cooperation ;  loaning  and  bor- 
rowing and  buying  and  crediting  as  if  both  were  white  or  both 
were  black.  This  spirit  of  business  cooperation  must  and  cer- 
tainly will  continue  to  grow. 

HEALTH 

It  is  perhaps  along  lines  of  health  and  sanitation  that  one  finds 
the  heartiest  cooperation  between  the  white  and  colored  people. 
The  Negroes  have  seen  the  possibility  of  a  stronger  and  a  more 
appealing  plea  to  the  white  people  for  help  and  cooperation  along 
lines  of  sanitation  and  hygiene  than  perhaps  along  any  other  line 


AMERICANIZATION  137 

of  racial  activity.  It  is  quite  as  important  for  the  white  people 
that  the  Negroes  should  be  clean  and  healthful,  physically,  men- 
tally and  morally  as  it  is  for  colored  people,  and  the  white  people 
see  and  understand  this  and  are  willing  and  glad  to  lend  assis- 
tance and  cooperation  as  perhaps  in  no  other  movement.  Dis- 
ease is  common  to  all  and  though  germinated  in  the  Negro  cabin, 
is  very  apt  to  find  its  way  to  the  white  mansion.  Disease  like 
vice  and  crime  knows  no  color  line.  As  a  result  of  the  very  im- 
portant meeting  recently  held  in  the  City  of  New  Orleans  to 
start  a  health  campaign  throughout  the  South,  the  white  people 
are  urging  the  Negroes  to  enter  into  this  movement  and  have 
met  with  very  general  response  from  colored  people. 

NEGRO    ORGANIZATION    SOCIETY 

There  grew  out  of  our  Hampton  Negro  Conference  a  move- 
ment which  we  have  called  the  Negro  Organization  Society  of 
Virginia.  This  movement  has  for  its  object  the  federation  of  all 
existing  organizations  in  the  State  of  Virginia  of  whatever  kind 
or  character,  whether  religious,  benevolent  or  secret  societies, 
social  or  business  conventions,  farmers'  conferences  and  whatnot, 
for  the  common  purpose  of  general  improvement  of  conditions 
among  Negroes  throughout  the  Old  Dominion.  Its  motto  is, 
"Better  Schools,  Better  Health,  Better  Homes,  Better  Farms" 
among  colored  people.  The  Negro  Organization  Society  seems 
to  have  about  federated  all  of  these  organizations,  for  never  in 
the  history  of  the  race  has  any  movement  taken  hold  of  the 
various  phases  of  Negro  activity  as  this  movement  has  done, 
and  though  the  movement  is  only  about  three  years  old,  it  has  in- 
spired the  erection  of  some  twenty-five  graded  schools  in  the 
State,  to  say  nothing  about  improving  the  equipment  and  sur- 
roundings of  two  scores  more. 

CLEAN-UP  DAY 

We  have  just  closed,  on  the  2nd  of  this  month,  what  we  call 
in  Virginia  a  Clean-up  Week.  A  year  ago  we  had  a  Clean-up 
Day,  but  we  made  it  a  Clean-up  Week  this  year  for  the  reason 
that  it  was  not  convenient  in  many  localities  in  the  State,  because 
of  storms,  etc.,  to  clean  up  on  the  day  appointed,  so  we  took  a 
week.  We  asked  the  State  Board,  as  well  as  the  County  Boards 
for  their  cooperation  and  their  help.  We  prepared  a  special  bul- 


138  AMERICANIZATION 

letin  giving  instructions  in  simple  language  that  could  be  easily 
understood  by  colored  people  as  to  the  best  methods  of  preserv- 
ing their  health,  etc.,  which  we  called  the  "Negro  Health  Hand- 
book." The  State  Board  of  Health  published  almost  as  we  gave 
it  to  them,  at  no  expense  to  the  Organization  Society,  about 
thirty  thousand  of  these  books  which  were  put  into  the  hands  of 
the  school  teachers  and  preachers  as  well  as  Negro  leaders 
throughout  the  State,  and  special  sermons,  health  talks  and  lec- 
tures were  delivered  throughout  the  State  of  Virginia.  We 
asked  the  white  people,  who  employed  colored  people,  to  excuse 
and  encourage  as  far  as  possible  their  employees  to  clean  up  their 
premises,  and  while  we  have  not  the  facts  for  the  present  year, 
we  know  that  130,000  people  last  year  devoted  the  day  to  general 
cleaning  on  their  premises  and  disposing  of  rubbish,  white-wash- 
ing their  houses,  outhouses  and  fences,  and  destroying  breeding 
places  for  flies  and  mosquitoes.  Perhaps  the  most  significant 
thing  accomplished  in  this  health  movement  is  that  we  got  abso- 
lutely the  cooperation  and  the  backing  of  the  leading  papers  and 
leading  white  people  of  Virginia.  The  new  Hand-book  has  just 
been  published,  forty  thousand  copies  of  which  have  been  dis- 
tributed with  results  even  more  far-reaching  than  a  year  ago. 

Last  November  in  Richmond,  six  thousand  people  gathered  to 
hear  the  reports  of  the  year's  work.  Something  like  a  thousand 
of  these  were  white  and  they  represented  the  leading  people  of 
the  City  of  Richmond  and  the  State  of  Virginia.  There  were 
present  and  on  the  platform,  the  Governor  of  the  State,  the 
President  of  the  Richmond  Medical  College,  the  Principal  of 
Hampton  Institute  and  many  leading  Negroes,  among  them,  Mrs. 
Maggie  L.  Walker  and  such  men  as  Dr.  Charles  S.  Morris  and 
Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington.  Mrs.  B.  B.  Munford,  one  of  the 
leading  white  ladies  of  Virginia,  was  asked  to  speak  on  the  sub- 
ject "What  white  people  can  do  to  help  colored  people."  Mrs. 
Munford  opened  her  address  with  these  words.  "The  best  way," 
she  said,  "for  white  people  to  help  colored  people  is  for  white 
people  to  believe  in  colored  people."  When  speaking  to  the 
colored  people  later  in  the  evening,  I  said  the  best  way  for  colored 
people  to  help  white  people  is  for  colored  people  to  believe  in 
white  people. 

It  seems  to  me,  then,  that  if  we  live  up  to  the  spirit  of  the  col- 
ored minister  and  the  equally  sincere  and  earnest  advice  from 
Mrs.  Munford,  we  will  have  a  clew  to  the  maze  of  race  prejudice 


AMERICANIZATION  139 

and  race  misunderstanding  and  a  key  to  the  door  of  Christian 
cooperation  and  brotherhood,  and  this  is  the  spirit  and  purpose 
of  this  Negro  Christian  Students'  Conference. 

The  New  Voice  in  Race  Adjustment;  addresses  and  reports  presented 
at  the  Negro  Christian  Conference,  Atlanta,  Georgia,  May  14-18,  1914. 
New  York  Students'  Volunteer  Movement,  25  Madison  Ave.  1914.  p.  161- 
167. 


ASSIMILATING  THE   INDIAN    (1907) 

ALBERT  SHAW 
EDITOR,  AMERICAN  REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS 

The  Indian  question  was  everywhere,  west  of  the  Appa- 
lachians, a  serious  and  difficult  one.  However  great  at  times  may 
have  been  the  practical  injustice  of  our  treatment  of  particular 
Indian  tribes,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  it  has  been  the  inten- 
tion of  the  government  and  of  the  people  as  a  whole  to  act  fairly 
toward  the  natives  of  the  country.  The  tribes  with  which  we 
have  had  to  deal  were  without  agriculture  except  of  the  most 
limited  sort,  were  nomadic  in  their  habits,  and  held  their  lands 
only  in  the  sense  of  having  a  prescriptive  right  to  roam  over 
them  in  their  pursuit  of  wild  animals.  These  Indians  were  few 
in  numbers,  and  as  our  forefathers  needed  lands  for  orderly  set- 
tlement, it  was  necessary  for  the  general  government  to  ex- 
tinguish the  Indian  title  by  some  form  of  agreement  with  tribal 
chieftains,  based  on  the  analogy  of  international  treaties. 

The  process  has  been  a  long  and  continuing  one,  and  it  would 
be  both  interesting  and  instructive  to  trace  the  effect  of  our  con- 
tacts and  relationships  with  the  Indian  as  affecting  the  develop- 
ment of  what  is  most  distinctive  in  American  citizenship  and 
character.  Certain  Indian  traits  and  qualities — those  of  physical 
courage  and  endurance,  of  silence  and  stoicism  under  conditions 
of  danger  and  difficulty,  of  a  certain  unassailable  personal  dignity 
— have  for  a  hundred  years  unquestionably  so  affected  the  Amer- 
ican mind  as  to  have  entered  very  deeply  into  the  quality  of  what 
we  may  call  American  personality.  If  all  our  pioneers  were  not 
at  some  time  engaged  in  Indian  fighting,  they  were  all  schooled 
in  the  need  of  being  prepared  for  it.  Outside  of  our  Eastern 
cities,  every  American  boy  until  within  a  very  recent  period  has 
been  trained  in  the  use  of  arms,  has  had  some  knowledge  of  wild 


140  AMERICANIZATION 

animals  and  woodcraft,  and  has  imbibed  something  of  thai  per- 
sonal initiative,  resourcefulness,  and  capacity  for  self-directed 
action  that  could  not  have  come  alone  from  our  early  provisions 
for  democratic  equality  and  universal  education.  It  came  in 
large  part  from  the  experience  of  subduing  a  great  continent 
and  from  the  actual  or  traditional  dealings  of  our  people  with  so 
remarkable  a  man  as  the  American  Indian. 

The  obtaining  of  Indian  lands,  the  carrying  on  of  Indian  wars, 
the  relocating  of  Indians  on  substituted  lands  farther  west,  the 
dealing  with  them  on  reservations,  the  attempts  to  educate  them 
and  to  fit  them  for  modern  economic  life,  and  the  constant  ef- 
forts of  philanthropists  and  idealists  to  give  practical  effect  to 
our  national  pledges  of  justice  toward  the  Indians,  have  pro- 
vided us  with  a  series  of  problems  of  government  and  admin- 
istration from  which  we  have  never  at  any  time  been  wholly  free. 

In  Mexico  the  Indians  were  never  supplanted,  but  entered  into 
the  body  of  citizenship.  The  result  must  be  a  slow  and  uncer- 
tain experiment  in  the  creation  of  a  new  nationality  of  mixed 
racial  origin,  with  the  Spanish  language  as  one  of  its  chief  unit- 
ing bonds.  One-fifth  of  the  Mexican  population  is  white,  with 
some  small  infusion  of  Indian  blood.  Two-fifths  is  of  thor- 
oughly mixed  racial  character,  and  about  two-fifths  almost  purely 
Indian.  The  Indian  racial  type  is  evidently  destined  to  prevail 
in  Mexico,  and  the  process  of  race  amalgamation  will  go  steadily 
forward.  It  will  be  a  slow  and  difficult  task,  but  not  an  impos- 
sible one,  to  bring  this  Mexican  population  up  to  a  much  higher 
average  standard  of  intelligence  than  now  prevails. 

Our  methods  of  agricultural  settlement  and  advance  almost 
wholly  precluded  intermarriage.  Our  conditions  were  incom- 
parably more  favorable  than  those  of  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico. 
We  were  dealing  with  a  small  number  of  Indians,  relatively 
speaking,  and  these  were  of  nomadic  and  savage  character,  in 
contrast  with  the  fixed  nature  of  the  Indian  population  of  Mex- 
ico. The  French,  on  the  contrary,  as  hunters  and  trappers 
among  the  Canadian  Indians  of  the  Northwest,  took  Indian 
wives  with  the  result  that  there  arose  a  considerable  population 
of  French-Indian  half-breeds.  Here  again  the  number  of  In- 
dians is  small  when  compared  with  the  rapid  development  of  the 
white  race,  and  Canada's  Indian  problem  will  be  solved  by  the 
complete  absorption  of  the  Indian  population  into  the  composite 


AMERICANIZATION  141 

European  stock  that  is  building  up  the  western  Canadian  prov- 
inces. 

By  original  agreement  in  accepting  the  cession  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Territory  from  Georgia,  the  United  States  government 
had  promised  to  extinguish  the  Indian  land  titles  and  make  other 
provision  for  the  Southern  red  tribes.  Out  of  such  agreements 
there  resulted  the  subsequent  creation  of  the  so-called  "Indian 
Territory,"  whither,  from  time  to  time,  were  removed  the  Choc- 
taws,  Creeks,  Seminoles,  and  many  other  entire  or  fractional 
tribes.  These  Indians  have  been  fortunately  situated  and  well 
protected  in  their  rights,  and  they  have  adopted  so  many  white 
men  into  their  tribal  organization  that  the  full-blooded  Indians 
are  now  in  a  small  minority.  A  gradual  opening  up  of  these  In- 
dian lands  to  white  settlement  resulted  some  years  ago  in  the 
setting  apart  of  the  temporary  territory  of  Oklahoma.  We  have 
just  now  witnessed  the  reunion  of  Oklahoma  and  what  was  left 
of  the  old  Indian  Territory,  and  the  admission  of  the  whole  un- 
der the  name  of  Oklahoma  as  a  State  in  the  Union. 

The  process  has  been  marked  by  great  care  in  the  distribution 
of  lands  in  severalty  to  Indian  families  and  individuals,  and  by 
various  provisions  to  protect  the  Indians  in  all  their  rights  of 
person  and  property  during  a  future  transitional  period.  All 
these  red  men  of  the  Indian  Territory  will  enter  into  full  Amer- 
ican citizenship,  and  the  process  of  absorption  into  the  white 
race  will  go  on  through  intermarriage  without  hindrance  or  dif- 
ficulty. 

Gradually  through  long  experience  we  are  learning  how  to 
deal  more  intelligently  with  the  Indians  now  segregated  in  West- 
ern reservations.  The  government's  policy  of  proving  schools 
for  the  Indian  children  is  constantly  growing  wiser  in  its  prac- 
tical methods,  and  although  aboriginal  instincts  are  stubborn 
and  hard  to  overcome,  the  inexorable  pressure  of  our  white 
population  will  either  absorb  the  red  man  or  cause  his  numbers 
to  dwindle  to  the  point  of  extinction.  As  a  subject  requiring 
threat  care  and  intelligence  in  administration,  the  Indian  question 
will  remain  with  us  for  a  long  time.  But  as  a  question  affecting 
population  and  citizenship,  it  has  now  practically  disappeared. 
We  shall  always  owe  some  traits  and  qualities  of  national  char- 
acter to  our  contact  with  the  North  American  Indians,  but  we 
shall  assimilate  them  as  a  race  with  results  scarcely  perceptible. 

Political  Problems  of  American  Development,  pp.  41-4.  New  York. 
Columbia  University  Press.  1907. 


142  AMERICANIZATION 


AMERICA  AND  THE  INDIAN 
FAYETTE  AVERY  MCKENZIE, 

OHIO   STATE   UNIVERSITY 

The  Indian  race  is  fast  reducing  the  purity  of  its  blood,  but 
the  Indian  blood  predominates  and  holds  the  succeeding  genera- 
tion out  of  the  national  thought  and  out  of  Caucasian  social  con- 
trol. No.  one  is  free  until  he  shares  in  the  thought  which  con- 
trols his  social  life.  The  mixed  blood  in  custom  and  tradition  is 
Indian,  or  raceless,  which  is  worse.  The  Indian  has  no  denned 
status.  Taxed,  he  may  or  may  not  be  a  citizen.  If  taxed,  or 
even  if  a  citizen,  he  may  have  few  or  none  of  the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  a  citizen;  he  may  not — ordinarily  he  does  not — 
have  the  control  of  his  own  property.  If  he  is  not  a  citizen,  he  is 
incompetent  to  sue  or  be  sued,  and  is  not  even  a  competent  wit- 
ness in  court.  Even  whole  tribes  of  Indians,  every  individual  of 
which  may  be  nominally  a  citizen,  have  no  standing  in  court,  and 
have  no  right  to  sue  for  their  claims,  even  in  the  United  States 
Court  of  Claims.  And  in  the  third  place,  though  we  spend  on  an 
average  about  $100  per  year  on  every  Indian  child  in  the  gov- 
ernment schools,  and  demand  from  them  not  less  than  twelve 
years,  and  sometimes  hold  them  far  beyond  their  majority,  yet. 
the  limited  few  who  get  an  advanced  education  do  not  by  gov- 
ernment policy  go  beyond  the  eighth  grade  of  our  public  schools. 

Now  may  I  state  my  thesis?  The  Indians  are  not  assimilated. 
The  assimilation  of  one  race  into  another  and  surrounding  race 
means  bringing  them  into  a  full  share  in  the  life  and  thought  of 
the  latter.  They  must  become  constituent  parts  of  the  nation. 
They  must  be  units  of  the  new  society.  John  S.  Mackenzie,  in 
his  Introduction  to  Social  Philosophy,  has  stated  the  point  I  wish 
to  make  in  these  words : 

"When  a  people  is  conquered  and  subject  to  another,  it  ceases 
to  be  a  society,  except  in  so  far  as  it  retains  a  spiritual  life  of  its 
own  a  part  from  that  of  its  conquerors.  Yet  it  does  not  become 
an  integral  part  of  the  victorious  people's  life  until  it  is  able  to 
appropriate  to  itself  the  spirit  of  that  life.  So  long  as  the  citi- 
zens of  the  conquered  state  are  merely  in  the  condition  of  atoms 
externally  fitted  into  a  system  to  vvhich  they  do  not  naturally 
belong,  they  cannot  be  regarded  as  parts  of  the  society  at  all. 


AMERICANIZATION  143 

They  are  slaves :  they  are  instruments  of  a  civilization  of  which 
they  do  not  partake.  Certainly  no  more  melancholy  fate  can  be- 
fall a  nation  than  that  it  should  be  subjected  to  another  whose 
life  is  not  large  enough  to  absorb  its  own.  But  such  a  subjection 
cannot  be  regarded  as  a  form  of  social  growth.  It  is  only  one 
of  those  catastrophes  by  which  a  society  may  be  destroyed.  In 
so  far  as  there  is  growth  in  such  a  case,  it  is  still  a  growth  from 
within.  The  conquering  society  must  be  able  to  extend  its  own 
life  outward,  so  as  gradually  to  absorb  the  conquered  one  into 
itself ;  otherwise  the  latter  cannot  be  regarded  as  forming  a  real 
part  of  it  at  all,  but  at  most  as  an  instrument  of  its  life,  like 
cattle  and  trees." 

I  maintain  that  the  Indian  has  not  been  incorporated  into  our 
national  life,  and  cannot  be  until  we  radically  change  a  number 
of  fundamental  things.  We  must  give  him  a  defined  status,  early 
citizenship  and  control  of  his  property,  adequate  education,  effi- 
cient government  and  schools,  broad  and  deep  religious  training, 
and  genuine  social  recognition.  We  must  give  him  full  rights  in 
our  society  and  demand  from  him  complete  responsibility.  .  .  . 

The  Indians  today,  the  great  mass  of  them,  are  still  a  broken 
and  beaten  people,  scattered  and  isolated,  cowed  and  disheart- 
ened, confined  and  restricted,  pauperized  and  tending  to  degen- 
eracy. They  are  a  people  without  a  country,  strangers  at  home, 
and  with  no  place  to  which  to  flee.  I  know  that  there  are  thous- 
ands of  exceptions  to  these  statements,  but  yet  they  remain  true 
for  the  great  majority.  The  greatest  injustice  we  do  them  is  to 
consider  them  inferior  and  incapable.  The  greatest  barrier  to 
their  restoration  to  normality  and  efficiency  lies  in  their  passivity 
and  discouragement.  We  have  broken  the  spring  of  hope  and 
ambition.  Can  it  ever  be  repaired? 

It  is  readily  to  be  seen  that  success  will  depend  upon  the  ac- 
curate utilization  or  release  both  of  external  forces  and  of  inter- 
nal forces.  The  white  race  through  government,  industry,  and 
religion  must  do  its  full  part,  and  the  red  race  through  initiative 
and  race  leadership  must  also  do  its  full  part.  I  cannot  make 
too  clear,  definite,  or  positive  my  beilef  that  this  problem  is  an 
exceedingly  delicate  one,  and  my  belief  that  failure  is  inevitable 
unless  just  the  right  policies  are  initiated  very  soon  and  carried 
on  and  carried  through  on  the  basis  of  maximum  efficiency. 

The  simple  test  of  efficiency  for  us  is,  are  we  giving  the  Indian 
identical  or  equal  opportunity  with  ourselves  to  share  in  and  to 


[4  AMERICANIZATION 

control  the  social  consciousness,  as  well  as  to  share  in  the  privi- 
leges, immunities,  duties,  and  obligations  of  the  members  of  our 
national  social  body?  This  is  the  only  goal  worth  while  in  as- 
similation. I  grant  you  that  public  opinion  is  very  far  from  this 
point  of  view  and  belief.  The  question  for  us  is,  do  sociologists 
agree  with  it? 

How  shall  Congress  and  the  nation  believe  except  they  be 
taught?  And  who  shall  teach  except  those  who  have  set  them- 
selves apart  to  study  these  things?  If  the  body  of  sociologists 
could  agree  upon  the  theory  and  would  express  themselves  in- 
dividually and  collectively,  they  could  exert  an  immense  influence 
at  this  particular  critical  moment.  The  hour  is  ripe  and  condi- 
tions are  propitious  for  a  considerable  forward  step — if  only 
those  who  can  speak  with  authority  will  speak.  They  must  se- 
cure a  consistent  governmental  practice,  and  guide  public  policy 
through  the  formulation  of  sound  theory  and  the  organization  of 
a  wise  public  opinion. 

Long  ago  I  became  convinced  that  the  Indian  problem  could 
not  be  solved  without  the  initiative  and  co-operation  of  the 
Indian  himself.  When  the  government  has  done  all  that  it  can, 
there  still  remains  the  stimulation  and  development  of  internal 
forces  to  be  effected.  Race  leadership  must  be  found  or  the 
race  will  fail  to  see  the  new  and  better  opportunities  and  will 
sink  to  rapid  ruin.  It  used  to  be  said  that  it  would  be.  impossible 
for  Indians  to  organize  and  to  hold  together.  Personal  jealousies 
would  wreck  every  endeavor.  But  the  impossible  has  been  done. 
For  three  years  in  succession  the  Indians  have  met  in  national 
conference,  twice  at  the  Ohio  State  University,  and  this  year  in 
the  city  of  Denver.  The  conference  has  grown  to  a  membership 
of  nearly  a  thousand  people,  half  of  them  Indians,  half  of  them 
'vhites.  Indians  only  are  active  members  and  do  all  the  voting. 
They  are  publishing  a  remarkable  quarterly  journal,  and  if 
properly  supported  bid  fair  to  do  a  work  of  great  significance. 
Their  Denver  platform  is  of  a  quality  which  will  compel  national 
attention.  Out  of  great  sacrifice  and  labor  this  new  force 
emerges.  Shall  we  not  welcome  it  and  give  it  ever)'  possible 
support? 

For  us,  duties  divide  into  those  imperative  for  the  moment 
and  those  which  relate  to  the  future.  We  have  our  obligations 
toward  pending  legislation  and  in  the  support  of  the  splendid 
efforts  of  the  society  of  American  Indians. 


AMERICANIZATION  145 

For  the  future  we  must  set  ourselves  the  task  of  continuous 
education  of  the  public  that  every  correct  endeavor  shall  be  pro- 
tected and  aided  to  the  point  where  it  achieves  its  proper  and 
logical  results.  All  of  us  can  share  in  this  task.  But  should 
not  some  of  our  great  universities  go  farther?  Ought  there  not 
to  be  one  or  more  endowments  created  to  establish  chairs  of 
race  development  with  particular  reference  to  the  native  race 
of  the  American  continent?  We  have  eminent  professors  who 
as  anthropologists,  ethnologists,  and  historians  study  the  Indian 
of  the  past.  Should  we  not  have  men  who  can  devote  themselves 
to  the  problem  of  the  Indian  as  he  now  is,  and  to  the  problem  of 
the  means  by  which  he  may  realize  his  highest  possibilities  as  a 
citizen  and  f ellow- worker  ?  Such  studies  should  mean  vast 
things,  not  only  for  the  United  States,  but  for  the  uncounted 
millions  of  native  Americans  in  the  countries  to  the  south  of  us. 
The  nation  and  the  continent  call  for  this  great  new  chair  in 
sociology.  Do  we  not  owe  this  to  the  people  we  have  so  largely 
dispossessed? 

The  Assimilation  of  the  American  Indian.  American  Journal  of  So- 
ciology. 19:761-72.  May  '14. 

OUR  SLAVIC  FELLOW  CITIZENS 

The  Question  of  Assimilation 

EMILY  GREENE  BALCH 
STUDENT  OF  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS,  ECONOMIST 

In  a  composite  people  like  the  American  it  is  inevitable  that 
the  color  of  the  whole  should  appear  different  to  those  who  view- 
it  from  different  points.  The  Englishman  is  apt  to  think  of  the 
United  States  as  literally  a  new  England,  a  country  inhabited  in 
the  main  by  two  classes — on  the  one  hand  descendants  of  seven- 
teenth century  English  colonists  and  on  the  other  newly  arrived 
foreigners. 

The  continental  European,  on  the  contrary,  is  apt  to  suffer 
from  the  complementary  illusion  and  to  believe  that  practically  all 
Americans  are  recent  European  emigrants,  mainly,  or  at  least 
largely,  from  his  own  country.  Frenchmen  will  state  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  United  States  is  French,  the  Germans  believe 
that  it  is  mainly  German  and  that  one  could  travel  comfortably 
throughout  the  United  States  with  a  knowledge  of  German  alone. 


L.j.6  AMERICANIZATION 

This  is  very  natural.  A  man  sees  his  own  country  people  flocking 
to  America,  perhaps  partly  depopulating  great  tracts  of  the 
fatherland;  he  receives  copies  of  newspapers  printed  in  America 
in  his  own  language;  he  travels  in  America  and  he  is  feted  and 
entertained  everywhere  by  his  own  countrymen  and  is  shown 
America  through  their  eyes.  "I  visited  for  two  weeks  in  Cedar 
Rapids  and  never  spoke  anything  but  Bohemian,"  said  a  Prague 
friend  to  me.  An  Italian  lady  in  Boston  said  to  an  American 
friend,  "You  know  in  Boston  one  naturally  gets  so  little  chance 
to  hear  any  English."  One  recalls  hearing  American  friends  make 
the  corresponding  complaint  in  Paris  and  Berlin. 

On  both  sides  such  exaggerated  impressions  are  very  hard  to 
shake  off.  What  are  the  facts? 

At  present  Negroes,  Indians  and  Mongolians  make  twelve  per 
cent  of  the  population  of  the  United  States;  foreign  born  white 
persons  make  thirteen  per  cent  more,  native  born  white  persons 
of  wholly  or  partly  foreign  parentage  twenty-one  per  cent  more, 
leaving  a  little  over  one-half  (fifty-three  per  cent)  native  whites 
of  native  parentage. 

Of  the  foreign  born  and  their  children,  however,  over  a  tenth 
are  English  in  origin  and  something  over  a  third,  including  the 
Irish,  are  English  by  inherited  speech. 

On  the  other  hand,  of  the  fifty-three  per  cent  of  persons  of 
native  white  parentage  many  have  non-English  blood,  some  of 
them  little  and  remote,  some  through  all  four  grandparents. 

Since  the  statistics  of  immigration  began  to  be  gathered  in 
1820,  twenty-four  millions  of  immigrants  have  been  counted  at 
our  ports,  of  whom,  of  course,  the  major  part  have  been  neither 
English  nor  English  speaking. 

But  the  diversity  goes  back  not  to  1820,  but,  as  everyone 
knows,  to  the  colonization  of  the  country.  Some  of  the  settle- 
ments which  occupy  a  place  in  history,  like  that  of  the  Swedes  in 
Delaware,  contributed  little  blood  to  the  new  country,  but  others 
did ;  and  what  with  original  non-English  colonies  and  the  immi- 
gration of  Germans,  Huguenots  and,  above  all,  Scotch-Irish 
(movements  which  relatively  to  the  times  were  very  important) 
it  has  been  estimated  that  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  fully  one- 
fifth  of  the  population  spoke  some  other  language  than  English 
and  that  not  over  one-half  were  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood. 

Such  estimates  are  uncertain,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
publication  of  the  returns  for  the  census  of  1700,  now  under  way, 


AMERICANIZATION  147 

may  give  us  some  new  light,  but  at  least  they  help  to  emphasize 
the  fact  that  pre-Revolutionary  America  was  by  no  means  wholly 
English. 

After  the  constitution  of  the  Republic,  whole  populations  were 
annexed  in  situ,  adding  considerable  non-English  populations — 
the  Spanish  of  Florida,  the  Spanish-Mexicans  of  the  southwest 
and  California,  and  the  French  of  Louisiana,  Saint  Louis  and 
the  old  northwest. 

"But  in  spite  of  all  temptations 
To  belong  to  other  nations," 

the  background  and  basis  of  the  country  is  and  always  has  been 
essentially  English. 

It  was  a  group  of  English  colonies  that  united  to  form  the 
Republic.  The  strain  that  has  predominated,  the  men  that  have 
shaped  and  led  the  nation,  have  been  mainly  English  or  English 
speaking,  from  the  men  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  in  the 
Revolution  to  the  Southerners,  New  Englanders  and  "Yankees" 
who  supplied  the  native  element  in  the  westward  movement. 

Language  wields  an  influence  beyond  all  calculation  and  lan- 
guage has  tended  to  make  us  open  to  English  thought  and  com- 
paratively inaccessible  to  other  outside  currents. 

Not  only  is  English  generally  spoken  throughout  the  country, 
but  it  is  surprisingly  uniform.  It  has  indeed  much  less  dialectical 
variation  than  the  languages  of  old  countries  like  England  and 
Germany,  France  and  Italy. 

Yet  granting  all  that  has  been  said  as  to  the  English  in 
America,  it  remains  true  that  the  other  elements  which  have  made 
a  component  part  of  America  since  the  beginning  have  not  been 
either  thrust  out  by  the  English  or  simply  absorbed  or  altered 
over  by  them  into  their  own  likeness.  There  has  been  thus  far 
an  amalgam,  a  fusion,  creating  a  new  stock  which  is  no  longer 
English,  but  something  distinctive  and  different,  American.  Even 
our  English  speech  is  not  the  English  of  England.  Our  physique, 
our  bearing,  still  more  our  tone  of  mind  and  spiritual  character- 
istics not  only  are  distinguishable  from  the  English  but  bear  the 
mark  of  a  national  type  as  distinct  perhaps  as  any. 

Language  is  not  the  only,  not  even  the  main  channel  of  influ- 
ence. Biologists  show  us  by  what  natural  laws  animals  take  the 
color  of  their  environment.  For  different  reasons,  but  as  surely, 


148  AMERICANIZATION 

people  do  the  same.  Unfortunately  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
the  immigrant  generally  begins  at  the  bottom.  His  helplessness 
makes  him  sought  for  as  prey  by  sharpers  and  grafters.  It  is  all 
that  the  immigration  officials  can  do  to  keep  them  off  him  as  he 
lands.  As  soon  as  he  leaves  the  paternal  care  of  Ellis  Island  they 
are  upon  him.  Boarding-house  runners,  shady  employment 
agencies,  sellers  of  shoddy  wares,  hack  drivers  and  expressmen 
beset  his  way.  One  hears  all  sorts  of  stories  of  abuses  from  both 
Americans  and  Slavs,  of  bosses  who  take  bribes  to  give  employ- 
ment or  good  chambers  in  the  mine,  of  ill  usage  at  the  hands  of 
those  who  should  be  officers  of  justice,  of  arrests  for  the  sake  of 
fees,  of  unjust  fines,  of  excessive  costs  paid  rather  than  incur  a 
greater  expense.  The  litigiousness  of  the  Slavs  is  exploited  by 
"shyster"  lawyers  till  the  immigrants  learn  wisdom  by  experi- 
ence. 

The  suffering  and  loss  are  less  serious — bad  as  they  are — than 
the  evil  lesson.  The  school  boy  who  has  been  cruelly  hazed  is 
apt  to  be  cruel  to  the  next  crop  o'f  victims  and  in  the  same  way 
fraud  and  harshness  tend  to  reproduce  themselves. 

But  it  is  not  only  direct  ill-treatment  that  is  disastrous.  Be- 
ginning at  the  bottom  means  "living  not  in  America  but  under 
America,"  it  means  living  among  the  worst  surroundings  that  the 
country  has  to  show,  worse,  often,  than  the  public  would  tolerate 
except  that  "only  foreigners"  are  affected.  Yet  to  foreigners 
they  are  doubly  injurious  because  coming  often  with  low  home 
standards,  susceptible,  eager  and  ready  to  accept  what  they  find 
as  the  American  idea  of  what  should  be,  they  are  likely  to  accept 
and  adopt  as  "all  right"  whatever  they  tumble  into.  I  have  been 
in  places  in  Pennsylvania  where  all  one  can  say  is  that  civilization 
had  broken  down.  Being  in  a  city  people  could  not  help  them- 
selves individually  as  they  might  have  done  in  the  country,  and 
the  family  with  the  most  decent  ideas  was  dragged  down  by  the 
general  degradation  of  the  circumstances.  From  the  dance  hall 
at  one  end  of  the  street  to  the  white  door  bells  all  up  and  down 
its  length,  which  openly  denoted  kitchen  barrooms,  everything 
smelled  of  lawlessness.  The  water  was  known  to  be  infected 
with  typhoid  and  had  to  be  boiled  to  be  safe — a  considerable 
expense  and  trouble  and  an  excellent  reason  for  drinking  other 
things.  In  the  spring  the  garbage  of  the  winter  stood  in  heaps 
before  the  doors.  The  deep  clay  mud  made  some  streets  abso- 
lutely impracticable  in  wet  weather.  The  neighbors  mended 
them  by  pouring  on  ashes  and  miscellaneous  dumpage.  Assaults, 


AMERICANIZATION  149 

in  some  cases  ending  in  death,  took  place  night  after  night,  and 
although  the  identity  of  the  offender  was  supposed  to  be  known, 
or  rather  because  of  that  fact,  no  one  dared  move  in  the  matter. 
The  mayor  stood  for  "running  the  town  wide  open,"  and  was 
said  to  have  investments  not  only  in  saloons  but  in  immoral 
resorts. 

This  is  a  composite  picture.  I  saw  or  heard  of  each  thing  on 
the  spot,  but  not  all  were  in  the  same  place. 

Now  consider  that  it  is  into  surroundings  like  these  that  we 
put  our  new  employees,  that  this  is  the  example  that  we  set  be- 
fore our  new  fellow-citizens.  Under  such  circumstances  the 
Americanization  over  which  we  are  so  complacent  is  by  no  means 
all  gain  and  this  is  true,  alas,  also  in  many  cases  among  those 
who  do  not  have  to  begin  at  the  bottom. 

It  is  obviously  our  plain  duty  to  give  the  immigrant  (and 
everyone  else)  fair  treatment  and  honest  government,  and  to 
maintain  conditions  making  wholesome,  decent  living  possible. 

This  is  the  minimum  required  at  our  hands,  not  by  the  Golden 
Rule — that  asks  much  more — but  by  the  most  elementary  ethic  of 
civilization.  Yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  this  simple,  fundamental 
thing  we  cannot  do.  It  is  not  in  our  power. 

We  can  and  must  do  what  in  the  end  will  be  a  better  thing. 
\Ve  must  get  our  new  neighbors  to  work  with  us  for  these  things. 

If  their  isolation  is  not  to  continue,  America  must  come  to 
mean  to  them,  not  a  rival  nationality  eager  to  make  them  forget 
their  past  and  offering  them  material  bribes  to  induce  them  to 
abandon  their  ideals.  We  must  learn  to  connect  our  ideals  and 
theirs,  we  must  learn,  as  Miss  Addams  has  demonstrated,  to  work 
together  with  them  for  justice,  for  humane  conditions  of  living, 
for  beauty  and  for  true,  not  merely  formal,  liberty. 

Clubs  and  classes,  libraries  and  evening  schools,  settlements 
and,  above  all,  movements  in  which  different  classes  of  citizens 
join  to  bring  about  specific  improvements  in  government  or  in 
living  conditions  are  of  infinite  value  as  they  conduce  to  this 
higher  unity  in  which  we  may  preserve  every  difference  to  which 
men  cling  with  affection  without  feeling  ourselves  any  the  less 
comrades. 

Charities.     9:1163-64.     December    7,    1907. 


ISO  AMERICANIZATION 

AMERICA'S   DUTY  TO   THE   GREEKS 

THOMAS  BURGESS 

MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  BRANCH  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  ANGLICAN 
AND  EASTERN  ORTHODOX  CHURCHES  UNION 

Do  the  Greeks  stay  permanently  in  America?  The  statement 
has  been  made  more  than  once  by  immigration  experts  as  well 
as  laymen  that  they  do  not  stay.  There  seems  to  be  an  idea, 
found  even  in  United  States  official  quarters,  that  the  Greek 
comes  here,  makes  money,  and  then  goes  home,  taking  his  money 
to  Greece  forever.  Unfortunately  for  poor  Greece,  this  is  abso- 
lutely the  opposite  of  the  truth.  Probably  most  Greeks  do  come 
to  America  with  this  purpose,  but  very  few  are  ever  able  to 
accomplish  it.  The  Greek  immigrant  does  not  go  back,  except 
for  visits;  he  comes  and  stays.  This  is  an  important  statement 
of  fact,  and  needs  to  be  emphasized  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is 
contrary  to  the  general  opinion.  One  cause  of  this  mistaken 
opinion  is  the  plain  record  of  immigration  statistics,  which  show 
a  large  number  of  Greeks  returning  home  each  year.  These 
figures  are  perfectly  correct;  but  the  point  is,  such  returning 
Greeks  are  off  for  a  visit  only — few  of  these  ever  stay  in  Greece. 
Then,  too,  tourists  have  reported  that  they  frequently  run  across 
in  Greece  Greeks  that  have  returned  from  America.  This  also 
is  quite  true.  But  those  very  Greeks,  though  perhaps  they  would 
not  admit  it  even  to  themselves,  are  in  Greece  only  temporarily; 
inevitably  they  will  come  back  again  to  America,  and  that  soon. 
Pretty  surely  the  same  is  true  of  the  large  majority  of  those 
Greeks  who  went  back  to  fight  in  the  Balkan  War. 

The  emigrant  from  Greece  usually  borrows  money — a  mini- 
mum $100,  his  passage  fare,  and  the  law-required  sum  for  his 
pocket  on  landing.  Or  if  he  is  so  unusually  lucky  as  to  own  this 
sum,  it  probably  is  his  whole  capital.  He  reaches  the  promised 
land.  He  works  hard  to  send  back  what  he  borrowed  and  a  good 
deal  more  to  keep  those  who  depend  on  him  at  home  from 
starving.  All  this  takes  a  number  of  years.  At  last  he  has  saved 
up  some  money,  be  it  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  dollars.  He  goes 
back  to  Greece  and  spends  most  of  it.  Then  taking  his  family 
if  he  has  one,  he  returns  to  America.  Why  does  he  return? 
Simply  because  (ask  any  of  the  thousands  of  Greeks  that  have 
done  so)  a  Greek  who  has  once  lived  in  this  country  can- 


AMERICANIZATION  151 

not  stay  satisfied  in  Greece.  Here  he  has  made  new  acquain- 
tances ;  there,  after  a  prolonged  absence,  he  finds  strangers.  He 
discovers  that  in  Greece  his  hard-earned  money  will  not  enable 
him  to  set  up  any  kind  of  business — business  is  carried  on  by  the 
better  classes,  not  the  peasant.  In  Greece  no  credit  is  allowed: 
credit  was  what  enabled  him  to  start  and  keep  running  in  Amer- 
ica. In  fact,  American  business  methods  will  not  fit  into  Greece 
at  all.  He  finds  himself  no  better  off  than  before  he  first  emi- 
grated, in  fact  much  worse.  And  so  it  is  that  those  immigrants 
who  in  their  disheartenment  wish  to  go  home  to  Greece,  cannot; 
and  those  who  in  their  first  flush  of  success  do  go,  find  it  im- 
possible to  stay.  This  fact  is  all  too  sadly  known  in  Greece  by 
the  leading  Greeks  here.  And  still  the  homeland  Greeks,  lured 
by  the  garnished  romances  of  our  wonderland,  keep  building 
their  air  castles  and  set  sail.  And  still  the  bitter  disillusionments 
breed  either  heroes  or  cynics.  Thus  far  the  migration  has  proven 
irrevocable.  The  Greeks  are  here  and  here  to  stay.  What  are 
we  Americans  going  to  do  about  it? 
How  to  do  your  part: 

1.  Do  your  utmost  to  remove  in  your  community  the  un- 
American  and  un-Christian  prejudice  against  the  Greek.     Treat 
him  openly  yourself  as  an   equal,  and  thus    by  your  example 
others  will  be  led  to  treat  him  as  an  equal — for  in  very  truth  the 
average  Greek  is  the  equal  of  the  average  American. 

2.  Honor  and  express  your  honor  for  and  seek  to  preserve 
that  pride  of  the  Greek  in  the  history  of  his  race,  the  beauty  of 
his  language,  the  customs  and  traditions  of  his  fatherland,  the 
orthodoxy  of  his  church — for  it  is  these  that  have  implanted  and 
preserved  in  him  patriotism,   aspiration  for  an  education,  duty 
to  family,  benevolence  for  the  afflicted,  courtesy,  temperance.    To 
strive  to  obliterate  the  ideals  of  the  fatherland  that  we  may  turn 
out  an  unadulterated  "American"  is  worse  than   foolish.     The 
right  kind  of  assimilation  will  certainly  not  be  accomplished,  as 
Professor  Balch  well  expresses  it,  by  the  American  saying  to 
the  foreigner,  "We  two  shall  be  one,  and  I  will  be  that  one." 
Let  us  rather  preserve  for  this  transplanted  tree  the  goodly  por- 
tion of  its  native  soil,  and  add  to  it  that  which  is  good  in  Amer- 
icanism.    The  combination  will  furnish  to  American  citizenship, 
nay  is  already  furnishing,  a  very  valuable  species. 

3.  Cooperate  with  the  Greek  leaders  and  organizations  in  all 
schemes  of  uplift  for  the  Greeks — the  uplift  of  the  Greek  is  the 


152  AMERICANIZATION 

raison  d'etre  of  most  Greek  organizations.  For  example,  when 
we  give  the  use  of  our  public  school  buildings  for  Greek  evening 
schools — as  we  always  should  do — let  the  leading  Greeks  of  the 
community  decide  with  us  the  best  course,  methods,  and  teachers. 
In  sanitary  reforms,  ask  the  advice  and  cooperation  of  the  lead- 
ers— and  so  in  all  civic  reforms.  To  ignore  utterly  the  regular 
Greek  9rganization  in  dealing  with  matters  which  affect  Greeks, 
is  as  unwise  and  insulting  for  example,  as  it  is  to  invite  a  troop 
of  boy  scouts  or  a  fraternal  order  to  participate  in  a  Memorial 
Day  parade  and  ignore  the  well  drilled  Greek  military  company 
of  the  city— a  pretty  way  to  foster  citizenship.  Moreover,  the 
same  plan  should  be  followed  by  the  United  States  and  the  state 
governments  in  planning  legislation  or  reforms  that  affect  the 
immigrant.  Let  them  take  into  confidence  and  act  with  the  ad- 
vice and  cooperation  of  the  national  organization  of  the  Greeks 
(and  those  of  other  foreign  people).  Is  it  not  foolish  to  make 
long  investigations  and  act  on  them  without  the  help  of  those 
who  know  the  conditions  best  and  are  in  the  position  to  do  the 
most  effective  work? 

4.  Finally,  that  which  really  counts  most,  as  it  does  in  all 
else — our  personal  touch  of  man  with  man.  Let  those  Amer- 
icans who  stand  for  that  true  ideal  of  Americanism  which  the 
Greek  expected  to  find  before  he  came  to  our  shores — that  which 
is  lofty  without  vanity,  free  without  license,  unselfish  without 
discrimination — let  such  men  and  women  learn  to  know  their 
Greek  neighbors  by  personal  touch  and  sincere  friendship ;  and, 
if  need  arise,  by  doing  for  them  the  good  turns,  not  of  "charity" 
but  of  friendship.  Only  so  can  the  Greeks  learn  to  value  the 
ideals  of  the  true  American. 

Greeks  in  America:  an  account  of  their  coming,  progress,  customs, 
living  and  aspirations,  pp.  182:182-9  Boston.  Sherman,  French  &  Co. 


AMERICANIZATION  153 

AMERICAN    EDUCATION   IN   THE 
PHILIPPINES 

A  Contrast  io  English  and  Dutch  Colonial  Policies 
WILLIAM  H.  TAFT 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES  OF  AMERICA,    IQO8-I9I2 

The  skill  and  success  with  which  the  English  have  governed 
tropical  races  in  India,  Burma,  the  Straits  Settlements,  and  the 
Federated  Malay  States  and  in  Egypt,  and  with  which  the  Dutch 
have  governed  their  East  Indian  possessions,  especially  the 
Malays  in  Java,  are  well  known  to  anyone  familiar  with  the 
history  of  colonial  administration.  They  have  secured  tran- 
quillity, well-ordered  government,  an  impartial  administration  of 
justice,  and  material  improvement.  By  the  construction  of  roads, 
bridges,  harbors,  railroads,  and  other  public  works,  they  have  de- 
veloped the  production  and  trade  of  the  colonies  to  the  highest 
degree. 

When  there  was  thrust  upon  the  American  people  the  task  of 
governing  the  Philippines,  with  their  8,000,000  souls,  it  was  nat- 
ural and  proper  and  of  the  highest  utility  that  we  should  profit 
by  the  experience  of  the  British  and  Dutch  in  their  colonial  ad- 
ministration; but  in  so  far  as  the  people  we  had  to  deal  with 
were  different  from  the  people  under  their  control,  and  in  so  far 
as  the  object  of  our  taking  control  of  the  islands  was  different 
from  that  which  animated  them,  we  were  obliged  to  van'  our 
policy  from  theirs.  The  chief  difference  between  their  policy 
and  ours,  in  the  treatment  of  tropical  people,  arises  from  the  fact 
that  we  are  seeking  to  prepare  the  people  under  our  guidance 
and  control  for  popular  self-government.  We  are  attempting  to 
do  this,  first,  by  primary  and  secondary  education  offered  freely 
to  all  the  Filipino  people;  and,  second,  by  extending  to  the  Fil- 
ipinos wider  and  wider  practice  in  self-government  so  that  by 
actual  experience  they  may  learn  the  duties  of  the  citizen,  his 
proper  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  government  and  the  self- 
restraint  absolutely  necessary  to  a  wise  control  of  a  minority  by 
a  majority.  Without  denying  for  one  moment  that  the  material 
development  of  a  country,  the  construction  of  roads,  harbors  and 
railroads  and  other  modern  methods  of  intercommunication,  are 
most  efficient  means  of  elevating  the  people  and  making  their  ed- 


154  AMERICANIZATION 

ucation  possible,  those  who  have  been  responsible  for  the  Philip- 
pine policy  of  the  American  Government  have  also  regarded  the 
establishment  of  a  public-school  system  in  the  islands  as  a  most 
important  feature  of  their  administration.  This  is  at  variance 
with  the  views  of  the  British  and  Dutch  Colonial  Administra- 
tors. Those  Englishmen  who  have  had  occasion  to  comment 
upon  our  course  in  the  Philippines  have  invariably  criticised  the 
expenditure  of  large  sums  by  the  Government  in  the  payment  of 
American  school  teachers  and  the  establishment  of  public  schools 
thruout  the  islands.  Such  is  the  view  of  Mr.  Colquhoun,  Mr. 
Savage  Landor,  and  Mr.  Alleyne  Ireland.  It  is  based  not  only 
upon  what  they  deem  to  be  the  greater  value  to  the  people  of 
public  improvements,  for  which  the  money  spent  in  public  educa- 
tion might  be  used,  but  also  upon  the  positive  injury  that  they 
think  is  done  to  a  tropical  people,  situated  as  the  Filipinos  are, 
by  spreading  education  among  them.  They  believe  that  popular 
education  makes  for  the  detriment  of  the  tropical  races,  whose 

life  work  must  be  largely  taken  up  in  tilling  the  fields. 
****** 

The  theory  of  this  policy  is  that  if  people  are  kept  ignorant 
under  a  strong,  paternal  government,  they  are  much  less  likely 
to  become  discontented  with  the  restrictions  of  Government  and 
much  more  amenable  to  Governmental  influence  in  inducing  them 
to  labor  and  till  the  fields,  than  if  they  receive  education  enough 
to  widen  their  horizon  and  to  inspire  them  with  a  desire  to  be 
something  more  than  hewers  of  wood  and  haulers  of  water.  It 
is  considered  that  a  widespread  system  of  education  promotes 
among  those  who  receive  its  benefits  the  development  of  discon- 
tented persons,  of  agitators  and  political  demagogs,  who  are 
quite  willing  to  embroil  their  people  in  insurrection  and  con- 
troversies with  the  Government  without  any  thought  of  the  real 
benefit  which  may  be  thereby  acquired. 

Our  view  of  this  subject  is  that  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from 
the  general  system  of  education  to  all  the  people  greatly  out- 
weighs the  disadvantages  from  the  over-education  of  a  few  who 
put  their  knowledge  acquired  thru  the  system  of  public  educa- 
tion to  a  bad  purpose.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  American 
Government,  in  retaining  control  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  to  se- 
cure a  permanent  government  of  an  ignorant  people,  from  whose 
industry  and  trade  commercial  benefits  may  be  secured  to  the 
mother  country,  nor  are  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  islands 


AMERICANIZATION  155 

and  subservience  of  the  people  to  our  Government  to  be  our 
ultimate  aim.  Our  chief  object  is  to  develop  the  people  into  a 
self-governing  people,  and  in  doing  that  popular  education  is,  in 
our  judgment,  the  first  and  most  important  means.  Now,  if,  in 
extending  the  education,  we  may  prepare  in  our  own  schools  men 
who  will  subsequently  revolt  against  the  Government,  or  seek  to 
disturb  the  peace  and  tranquillity  in  the  islands,  this  risk  we 
must  run  for  the  greater  benefit  involved  in  a  spread  of  intelli- 
gence among  the  whole  people.  The  truth  is,  the  Government  is 
much  more  subject  to  attack  and  disturbance  with  the  whole  body 
of  the  people  in  a  state  of  hopeless  ignorance  and  a  small  num- 
ber of  agitators  who  can  exercise  unmeasured  and  irresponsible 
control  over  them  than  it  is  when  the  people  have  general  intel- 
ligence and  are  able  to  distinguish  between  the  appeals  to  them 
by  real  patriots  and  the  mouthings  of  irresponsible  agitators  and 
demagogs.  The  policy  of  the  American  Philippine  Government 
is  not  to  give  to,  or  force  upon,  every  worker  in  the  rice  fields  a 
college  education.  In  the  nature  of  things,  the  great  mass  will 
only  receive  a  primary  education.  More  than  this,  we  have  al- 
ready established  manual  training,  trade,  and  agricultural  schools, 
and  we  expect  to  increase  their  number  so  that  the  people  of 
every  province  may  profit  by  them.  The  Philippine  people  have 
comparatively  few  skilled  workmen  among  them,  and  yet  the 
Filipino  is  singularly  apt  with  his  hands,  and  has  a  natural  taste 
for  mechanics  and  machinery.  Education  of  this  kind  certainly 
does  not  promote  idleness  or  create  discontented  and  over-ed- 
ucated agitators. 

***** 

We  in  America  believe  in  popular  self-government.  We  be- 
lieve in  it  because  in  the  long  run  we  are  sure  that  each  man  can 
be  depended  on  with  reasonable  intelligence  to  protect  his  own 
interest  more  constantly  than  another  can  be  trusted  to  look  after 
that  interest.  Hence  the  problem  which  the  United  States  has 
had  set  before  it,  is  the  question  of  how  to  educate  the  Filipino 
people  to  be  a  self-governing  people.  The  criticisms  of  this 
policy  are  really  founded  on  a  denial  of  the  possibility  of  fitting 
a  people  like  the  Filipinos  for  self-government.  We  must  admit 
that,  with  respect  to  tropical  races,  this  is  a  new  experiment. 
Such  a  policy  has  never  been  attempted  by  any  government  hav- 
ing tropical  colonies  or  dependencies,  and  the  issue  whether  it  is 
a  feasible  and  practicable  policy  remains  to  be  decided.  Speak- 


156  AMERICANIZATION 

ing  for  myself,  I  think  it  is  entirely  practicable,  if  sufficient  time 
and  effort  and  patience  are  given  to  working  it  out. 

How  long  it  will  require  to  accomplish  the  object  of  those 
who  instituted  these  processes  of  education  of  the  people,  is 
mere  conjecture.  Certainly  it  ought  to  continue  long  enough 
under  American  auspices  to  insure  its  continuance  and  main- 
tenance under  the  auspices  of  the  Filipino  people  if -they  should 
see  fit  to  establish  independent  government.  If,  however,  the 
government  were  now  turned  over  to  the  Filipino  people  without 
continued  American  guidance,  the  whole  fabric  of  the  educa- 
tional system  established  by  the  American  Government  in  those 
islands  would  fall  to  pieces.  The  self-sacrifice,  the  patience,  and 
the  knowledge  necessary  to  the  continuance  of  such  a  system  of 
education  are  not  to  be  found  now  even  among  the  intelligent 
classes  of  the  Filipino  people.  They  are  not  sufficiently  charged 
with  the  importance  of  maintaining  all  these  instruments  that  I 
have  described,  for  the  purpose  of  elevating  the  poor  and  the 
common  people.  They  are  quite  content  with  a  government  of 
the  few.  I  was  visited  in  Manila  by  a  delegation  of  Filipino 
gentlemen  who  desired  to  found  a  party  for  the  advocacy  and 
obtaining  of  immediate  independence  by  peaceable  means,  and 
who  made  an  argument  in  its  favor  based  on  the  ground  which 
they  solemnly  stated,  that  they  had  counted  the  number  of  the 
gcnte  illustrada,  or  educated  people,  in  the  island,  and  they  fig- 
ured out  the  number  of  offices  to  be  filled  and  had  found  that 
the  number  of  educated  people  in  the  islands  was  more  than  dou- 
ble the  offices  to  be  filled.  They  reasoned,  therefore,  that  as  the 
offices  could  be  filled  twice — first  by  one  party  and  then  by  the 
other  party — with  educated  incumbents,  the  country  was  ready 
for  self-government.  I  pointed  out  to  them  that  th^  ^r.urity 
and  stability  of  a  popular  self-government  depended  upon  the 
existence  of  free,  intelligent  public  opinion,  and  that  as  long  as 
00  per  cent,  of  their  people  were  in  hopeless  ignorance  and  in  a 
mere  state  of  Christian  pupilage,  subject  to  being  led  about  by 
every  wealthy  educated  demagog  that  should  raise  his  voice,  they 
could  not  expect  the  coming  of  firm  or  stable  self-government. 

If  the  policy  is  to  be  followed  which  shall  take  away  from 
the  hands  of  the  American  Government  the  power  to  do  this 
people  an  infinite  good  by  carrying  out  thoroly  the  plan  of  ed- 
ucation which  I  have  outlined,  it  will  be  to  everyone  who  really 
knows  the  situation  a  source  of  infinite  regret. 

Educational    Review   29:264-85.     March,    1905. 


AMERICANIZATION  157 

ARE   JAPANESE   ASSIMILABLE? 
SIDNEY  L.  GULICK 

STUDENT  OF  ORIENTAL  LIFE.     LECTURER  IN  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY 
OF  KYOTO,  JAPAN 

It  is  ever  to  be  remembered  that  just  as  there  are  sharp  dif- 
ferences between  English,  Scotch,  Welsh,  and  Irish,  all  of  Great 
Britain,  and  also  between  the  English,  French,  Spanish,  and  Ger- 
man peoples,  so  there  are  sharp  differences  between  the  people  of 
Kagoshima,  Kyoto,  and  Sendai  in  Japan,  and  between  Japanese 
and  Chinese,  Koreans,  Hindoos,  Persians,  Turks,  and  Arabs. 
These  differences,  however,  belong  to  the  psychic  characteristics 
of  the  social  orders,  not  to  the  inherent  and  unchanging  psychic 
natures  of  the  peoples.  To  talk,  therefore,  of  the  oriental  con- 
sciousness, as  though  they  possessed  an  essential  psychic  race 
unity,  embracing  all  their  differences  and  differentiating  them 
from  all  Westerners,  is  to  speak  in  fact  of  what  does  not  exist. 
****** 

Amateur  race  psychologists  write  as  though  they  knew  the 
races  in  detail.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  guided  by  their 
own  a  priori  theories.  They  catch  at  a  few  facts  here  and  there 
in  harmony  with  their  theories  and  build  thereon  gigantic  dog- 
matic structures. 

A  few  years  ago  there  came  to  Japan  an  eminent  German  pro- 
fessor of  comparative  religion.  He  had  visited  Persia  and  India, 
Siam  and  China,  and  was  then  completing  his  study  of  oriental 
religions  in  Japan.  He  stated  that  he  wanted  to  get  first-hand 
information,  so  as  not  to  be  dependent  on  books.  And  he  forth- 
with began  to  discourse  to  the  writer,  who  listened  with  rapt  at- 
tention to  his  fine  discriminations  between  the  religious  feelings 
and  insights  of  the  various  races.  Unfortunately,  the  writer  ven- 
tured to  ask  how  he  had  learned  all  these  facts ;  had  he  employed 
interpreters?  for  surely  he  could  not  have  mastered  all  the  lan- 
guages in  so  short  a  time.  "Oh,  no,"  he  replied,  "in  the  matter 
of  religious  feelings  it  is  impossible  to  make  use  of  interpreters, 
for  they  could  not  possibly  understand  what  I  am  studying,  much 
less  could  they  inquire  of  pilgrims  what  I  wish  to  learn,  nor 
report  back  to  me  their  replies.  In  this  matter  langage  is  use- 
less. My  method  is  simply  to  watch.  I  merely  observe  the  faces 


158  AMERICANIZATION 

of  the  worshippers  and  pilgrims  and  know  by  my  own  insight 
the  feelings  that  fill  their  souls." 

There  you  are.  A  scientific  German!  A  professor  of  psy- 
chology and  philosophy  diving  into  his  own  inner  consciousness 
for  the  facts  of  oriental  religious  life !  Not  every  one  confesses 
his  method  so  frankly;  but  the  great  majority  of  tourists  and 
"students"  of  things  oriental,  who  cannot  talk  with  a  native  of 
the  country  in  his  own  tongue,  nor  read  a  line  of  the  daily  press, 
after  spending  in  those  lands  a  few  weeks  or  months  and  receiv- 
ing certain  impressions,  fail  to  ask  how  much  is  objective  fact 
and  how  much  subjective  fiction;  and  then,  bound  to  write  inter- 
estingly, they  proceed  to  describe  the  "inscrutable"  Oriental,  with 
his  strange  ways  of  life  and,  to  us,  impossible  views  of  human 
relationships.  Such  is  the  material  that  has  been  largely  to  blame 
for  the  extraordinary  misconceptions  of  the  East  so  prevalent  in 
the  West. 

Lafcadio  Hearn,  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  Percival  Lowell,  and  such 
writers  have  described  most  entertainingly  and  with  captivating 
literary  skill  the  Japan  of  their  dreams,  but  not  the  real  Japan 
of  flesh  and  blood.  Superficial  peculiarities  are  exaggerated  with- 
out measure,  deeper  identities  are  overlooked,  until  we  are  led  to 
believe  that  Orientals  are  so  different  from  us  that  really  they 
are  unintelligible  and  we  are  equally  so  to  them ;  there  is  a  deep, 
impassable  gulf  fixed  between  them  and  us.  It  then  follows  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  we  and  they  are  mutually  unassimilable. 
....  The  writer  regards  these  opinions  and  writings  not  only  as 
erroneous  but  also  as  injurious.  They  are  affecting  seriously  the 
relations  of  the  nations.  In  his  experience,  the  writer  has  found 
the  Japanese  thoroughly  human ;  they  are  fundamentally  like  us 
and  wish  to  be  regarded  and  treated  so.  They  wish  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  brothers  in  the  great  world  of  history  and  in  the  for- 
ward movement  of  mind.  They  wish  to  enter  fully  into  our  lives 
and  to  be  allowed  full  fellowship.  They  keenly  resent  the  charge 
that  they  are  inscrutable  and  unassimilable. 

That  there  are  no  psychological  differences  between  East  and 
West  is  by  no  means  our  contention.  There  certainly  are.  These 
the  writer  has  in  a  measure  studied  and  described  in  his  work  on 
"Japanese  Evolution,  social  and  psychic."  Our  general  conten- 
tion is  that  such  psychic  differences  as  distinguish  the  East  from 
the  West  are  products  of  social  life,  belong  to  the  social  order, 
and  are  therefore  subject  to  rapid  change.  .  .  .  The  entire  his- 


AMERICANIZATION  159 

tory  of  Japan  during  the  past  fifty  years  is  one  grand  illustration 
of  this.  Japanese  character  is  rapidly  undergoing  changes  now 
that  feudalism  has  been  abandoned  and  occidental  modes  of  polit- 
ical, industrial,  educational,  judicial,  and  social  organization  and 
life  have  been  introduced.  .  .  .  China  is  now  rapidly  moving 

over  the  same  road. 

****** 

The  degree  in  which  the  children  will  be  assimilated  to  the 
new  civilization  will  depend  on  many  factors,  but  they  are  wholly 
social.  Are  the  immigrants  welcomed  and  treated  as  friends  by 
the  adopted  land?  Do  the  parents  desire  to  give  their  children 
complete  education  in  the  language  of  their  adopted  land  and  do 
they  have  the  means  for  it?  Or  do  they,  on  the  contrary,  desire 
to  keep  their  children  loyal  to  their  own  native  land,  giving  them 
little  or  no  foreign  education,  requiring  their  children  to  master 
their  own  ancestral  language  and  literature?  And  further,  from 
infancy,  does  the  mother  sing  the  native  songs  to  her  children 
and  instil  feelings  of  patriotism  and  devotion  and  admiration  for 
national  heroes?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  does  the  adopted  land 
give  them  the  welcome  and  educational,  economic,  and  social  op- 
portunity or  does  it  refuse  these  or  at  least  begrudge  them? 

These  are  the  principal  factors  that  determine  the  degree  of 
social  assimilation  which  children  experience  in  a  foreign  land. 
Of  course,  the  influence  of  the  parents  may  be  exerted  in  one 
direction,  while  that  of  the  social,  educational,  and  economic 
situation  may  work  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  results  will 
be  mixed  and  highly  complex.  But  the  point  to  be  clearly  remem- 
bered is  that  the  degree  of  social  assimilation  that  actually  takes 
place  depends  entirely  on  the  social  conditions  of  the  home  and 
the  environment. 

The  United  States  has  been  an  extraordinary  experimental 
laboratory  of  assimilation.  Here  all  the  peoples  of  Europe  have 
intermingled.  First  social  assimilation  went  on  apace  and  then 
race  intermarriage.  As  to  the  complete  social  assimilation  of  the 
descendants  of  all  immigrants  from  Europe  of  the  seventeenth 
arid  eighteenth  centuries,  no  one  has  any  doubt.  This  may  be 
vaguely  thought  by  some  to  have  taken  place  through  intermar- 
riage, but  that  is  far  from  the  case.  Are  there  not  many  fami- 
lies of  unmixed  Puritan,  German,  or  Dutch  ancestry  and  yet  are 
they  less  American?  Do  they  lack  in  social  assimilation?  .  .  . 

The  power  of   the   free,   political,   judicial,   educational,   and 


i6o  AMERICANIZATION 

economic  institutions  of  America  to  assimilate  the  various  an- 
tagonistic populations  of  Europe  is  one  of  the  striking  features 
of  modern  life.  Our  institutions  are  being  put  to  a  terrific  test 
by  millions  of  raw  immigrants.  But  the  evidence  is  clear  and 
convincing  that  from  these  masses,  even  in  the  second  generation, 
we  are  securing  enthusiastic  and  intelligent  Americans,"  loyal  to 
the  core  to  the  characteristic  features  of  the  country. 

But  the  significant  fact  is  that  these  assimilative  processes  are 
social  rather  than  biological,  and  can,  therefore,  take  place  with 
amazing  rapidity.  And  this  is  exactly  because  it  takes  place  in 
the  realm  of  the  soul  and  not  of  the  blood.  .  .  . 

Were  the  social  assimilation  of  races  dependent  on  intermar- 
riage, the  outlook  for  the  United  States  would  be,  indeed,  fore- 
boding. Such,  however,  is  not  the  case.  It  proceeds  independ- 
ently, for  it  is  a  matter  of  social  inheritance  and  is  transmitted 
entirely  through  social  relations. 

The  great  obstacle  to  the  social  assimilation  of  race  is  race 
aggregation,  which  preserves  race  language  and  customs,  and  this 
is  equally  true  of  any  race.  Provide  for  social  intermixture  with 
the  joint  education  of  the  children  and  assimilation  will  take 
place  with  amazing  rapidity. 

Now,  Japanese  residing  in  America  desire  to  have  their  chil- 
dren associate  with  Americans  that  they  may  learn  American 
customs  and  the  English  language.  The  number  of  Japanese 
reared  from  infancy  in  America  is  still  few.  But  in  spite  of  the 
anti-Japanese  sentiment,  which  does  not  furnish  the  most  favor- 
able environment,  the  results  are  surprising.  Japanese  children 
soon  become  so  Americanized  that  they  have  no  difficulty  in  mak- 
ing friendships. 

The  results  in  Hawaii  of  American  education  on  children  of 
all  races  are  highly  instructive  from  the  sociological  standpoint, 
justifying  the  belief  that,  even  in  sections  where  the  majority  of 
families  are  not  American  but  Japanese,  Chinese,  Portuguese, 
and  Hawaiian,  the  American  school  succeeds  to  a  wonderful  de- 
gree in  imparting  the  American  language  and  social  heri- 
tage. .  .  . 

In  estimating  the  problem  of  Japanese  assimilability,  there  is 
one  important  factor  which  an  American  would  hardly  surmise 
and  which  he  cannot  easily  grasp,  namely,  the  enormous  diffi- 
culty of  the  Japanese  language.  A  long  exposition  of  its  charac- 
teristics would  be  needed  to  illustrate  this  point  adequately.  The 


AMERICANIZATION  161 

difficulty  may  be  suggested  by  the  statement  that  no  Japanese 
child  reared  wholly  in  America  can  acquire  both  an  English  edu- 
cation and  a  reading  knowledge  of  his  own  language.  If  he 
remains  in  America  till  he  is  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old  and 
then  returns  to  Japan,  he  is  already  so  badly  handicapped  that  it 
is  exceedingly  difficult  for  him  to  get  into  the  Japanese  school 
system.  Japanese  children  in  Hawaii  and  California  after  school 
hours  commonly  attend,  from  four  to  six  P.  M.,  some  Japanese 
school  for  the  study  of  their  own  language.  They  find  on  reach- 
ing the  age  of  ten  or  twelve,  that  they  can  read  anything  in  Eng- 
lish which  their  minds  can  understand,  while  in  Japanese  they  are 
still  struggling  with  the  mere  forms  of  the  Chinese  ideographs. 
English  they  find  easy,  while  their  own  language  they  find  in- 
creasingly difficult  and  distasteful. 

The  result  is  that  Japanese  children  reared  in  America  lose 
the  reading  power  of  their  own  language  far  more  surely  and 
rapidly  than  those  of  European  immigrants.  This  is  an  im- 
portant fact,  for  it  means  that  Japanese  of  the  second  genera- 
tion in  America  are  more  rapidly  and  completely  cut  off  from  the 
social  and  historical  influence  of  their  people  than  are  American- 
born  aliens  of  any  other  race.  .  .  . 

Those  who  deny  the  assimilability  of  the  Japanese  have  based 
their  belief  on  a  theory  of  race  nature  which  is  no  longer  tenable. 
In  a  word,  they  are  obsessed  by  the  biological  conception  of  man's 
nature  and  life.  They  do  not  recognize  the  psychic  or  spiritual 
factor,  nor  do  they  perceive  that  this  psychic  factor  modifies  in 
important  ways  even  man's  physical  life.  They  think  of  heredity 
only  in  terms  of  biological  analogy  and  have  not  a  glimpse  of 
social  heredity  with  laws  wholly  its  own.  They,  accordingly, 
cannot  conceive  of  the  real  assimilation  by  one  people  of  mem- 
bers of  another  race  except  by  intermarriage  and  actual  inter- 
change of  biological  heredity.  Nor  can  they  understand  how, 
from  groups  of  different  peoples  and  races,  a  truly  homogeneous 
nation  can  arise,  except  through  intermarriage  and  complete 
blood  mixture.  .  .  . 

Observation  of  adult  Japanese  who  have  been  in  California  a 
few  years,  by  unsympathetic  Californians  who  have  never  been 
in  Japan,  may  indeed  seem  to  to  substantiate  the  view  as  to  Jap~- 
anese  non-assimilability.  Observation,  however,  by  one  who  has 
lived  long  in  Japan  leads  to  the  opposite  conclusion.  The  degree 
in  which  Japanese  in  California  have  already  been  changed  is 


162  AMERICANIZATION 

highly  impressive  and  prophetic.  An  American,  unfamiliar  with 
the  Japanese  in  their  own  land,  is  not  in  a  position  to  estimate  the 
changes  which  take  place  through  life  in  this  land.  .  .  . 

The  writer  was  told  by  an  experienced  Japanese  teacher  of 
children  in  Japan  that  one  of  his  impressive  discoveries  on  com- 
ing to  America  was  the  fact  that  Japanese  children  born  and 
reared  here  differ  so  distinctly  from  children  in  Japan.  Their 
spirit  and  even  the  play  of  expression  on  their  faces  disclose  the 
subtle  influences  at  work  transforming  them.  .  .  . 

Lafcadio  Hearn  is  quoted  in  proof  of  the  alleged  non-as- 
similability  of  the  Japanese:  "Here  is  an  astounding  fact.  The 
Japanese  child  is  as  close  to  you  as  the  European  child,  perhaps 
closer  and  sweeter,  because  infinitely  more  natural  and  naturally 
refined.  Cultivate  his  mind,  and  the  more  it  is  cultivated  the 
farther  you  push  him  from  you.  Why?  Because  here  the  race 
antipodalism  shows  itself." 

Mr.  Hearn  has  well  observed  the  facts,  but  miserably  failed 
in  the  interpretation.  The  education  of  the  Japanese  child  in 
Japan  does,  indeed,  push  him  away  from  you,  an  American,  be- 
cause it  gives  him  the  Japanese  social  inheritance,  the  product  of 
thousands  of  years  of  divergent  social  evolution.  But  educate 
that  same  child  in  America,  give  him  the  American  social  inheri- 
tance and  the  KngJish  language  and  you  bind  him  the  more 
closely  to  you.  Just  here  is  the  fallacy  into  which  nearly  all  fall 
who  insist  on  Japanese  non-assimilability.  They  are  talking  about 
the  adult.  They  forget,  or  do  not  know,  that  any  social  heritage 
whatever  can  be  given  to  any  child,  and  that,  therefore,  the  child 
of  any  race  can  be  assimilated,  socially,  to  any  other.  And  this 
exactly  is  the  reason  also  why  race  aggregations  in  any  land  are 
relatively  non-assimilable.  It  is  because  the  children  receive  the 
social  heritage  of  their  parents'  race  with  its  language  rather  than 
that  of  the  country  where  they  live. 

The  determined  defendant  of  Japanese  non-assimiliability  dis- 
plays amazing  ignorance  of  the  results  of  modern  science  which 
has  completely  taken  the  ground  from  under  his  feet. 

Adequate  specific  data  are  lacking  in  regard  to  the  desir- 
ability of  biological  assimilation  of  the  Japanese  and  white  races, 
but  the  social  assimilability  of  the  Japanese  is  beyond  question. 
In  this  they  do  not  differ  from  any  other  people.  .  .  . 

The  American  Japanese  Problem,  pp.  132-68.  New  York.  Seribner, 
1914. 


AMERICANIZATION  163 

LONG,  TOO  LONG,  O  LAND 

WALT  WHITMAN 
POET,  SEER  AMERICANIST 

Long,  too  long,  O  land, 

Travelling  roads  all  even  and  peaceful,  you  learn'd  from  joys 
and  prosperity  only; 

But  now,  ah  now,  to  learn  from  crisis  of  anguish — advancing, 
grappling  with  direst  fate,  and  recoiling  not; 

And  now  to  conceive,  and  show  to  the  world,  what  your  chil- 
dren en-masse  really  are. 


FLAG  OF  STARS!  THICK-SPRINKLED 

BUNTING 
WALT  WHITMAN 

Flag  of  stars !  thick-sprinkled  bunting ! 

Long  yet  your  road,   fateful   flag ! — long  yet  your   road,   lined 

with  bloody  death ! 

For  the  prize  I  see  at  issue,  at  last  is  the  world ! 
All  its  ships  and  shores  I  see,  interwoven  with  your  threads, 

•greedy  banner! 
— Dream'd  again    the    flags    of    kings,  highest   borne,    to  flaunt 

unrival'd? 
O  hasten,  FLAG  OF  MAN!     O  with  sure  and  steady  step,  passing 

highest  flags  of  kings, 
Walk  supreme   to   the  heavens,   mighty   symbol — run   up  above 

them  all, 
Flag  of  stars!    thick-sprinkled  bunting! 

Poems   of    Walt    Whitman,   pp.    396    and    423.    New    York,    Thomas   Y. 
Crowell   co.,    1902. 


PART  III 

TECHNIC  OF  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


RACE-ASSIMILATION 


THE   HOPES   OF  THE   HYPHENATED 
GEORGE  CREEL 

CHAIRMAN,    UNITED   STATES   COMMITTEE  ON   PUBLIC   INFORMATION 

The  question  for  the  United  States  to  decide  is  whether  the 
same  old  policy  of  neglect,  stupidity,  and  oppression  shall  be 
pursued,  or  whether  a  new  and  sincere  approach  shall  be  made 
to  the  task  of  assimilation.  In  this  connection,  let  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  while  the  immigrant  seems  to  suffer  and  die  in  seeming 
helplessness,  he  works  his  revenge  upon  society  in  a  thousand 
ways.  Out  of  his  ignorance  and  despair  he  drags  down  the 
wage-scale,  acts  as  a  strike-breaker,  lowers  the  American  stan- 
dard of  living,  and  adds  the  note  of  actual  ferocity  to  the  com- 
petitive struggle.  Out  of  the  slums  where  aliens  fester  in  dirt 
and  disease  come  the  defectives  and  delinquents  that  fill  our  jails 
and  asylums,  and  their  ignorance  and  lack  of  civic  interest  make 
them  easy  prey  for  the  unclean  political  influences  that  prosper 
by  municipal  maladministration. 

Ludlow,  Calumet,  Lawrence,  Paterson,  Cabin  Creek,  and 
other  revolts  of  oppressed  aliens  have  cost  millions  in  actual  loss 
and  scarred  whole  States  with  hatred.  Even  if  justice  to  the 
alien  contains  no  appeal,  there  is  the  instinct  of  self-preservation 
to  compel  drastic  changes. 

Certain  steps  already  being  taken  in  the  direction  of  re- 
form. Mr  Caminetti,  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration, 
has  vitalized  the  division  of  information  so  that  it  is  truly  aiding 
the  immigrant  in  making  the  choice  of  a  home,  and  is  doing  a 
splendid  work  in  connection  with  the  employment  problem.  Also, 
by  an  arrangement  with  Mr.  Claxon,  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion, the  names  of  all  immigrant  children  of  school  age  are  sent 
immediately  from  the  various  ports  of  arrival  to  the  school  au- 
thorities at  the  point  of  destination. 

Several  cities,  notably  Cleveland,  have  established  immigra- 
tion bureaus  that  guard  that  immigrant  from  the  time  of  his 


i68  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

arrival,  watching  his  education,  protecting  his  rights,  promoting 
his  interests,  and  helping  him  in  the  advance  to  naturalization. 
Of  the  States,  California  has  moved  to  the  front  with  a  statute 
providing  teachers  to  work  in  the  homes  of  immigrants,  instruct- 
ing children  and  adults  in  education  laws,  labor  laws,  sanitation, 
and  the  fundamental  principles  of  American  citizenship. 

The  North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants  is  a  pow- 
erful volunteer  body  that  attempts  the  promotion  of  helpful  leg- 
islation, the  positive  work  required  to  protect  the  immigrant,  and 
the  teaching  of  the  English  language.  Through  the  medium  of 
the  Baron  de  Hirsch  Trust,  the  Jewish  immigrant  receives  far 
larger  consideration  than  that  accorded  to  any  other  nationality. 
The  Trust  maintains  distributing  agencies  at  all  points  of  entry, 
and  not  only  is  the  alien  placed  in  the  business  or  job  for  which 
he  has  been  trained,  but  in  event  of  his  poverty  he  is  loaned  the 
money  necessary  for  transportation  and  equipment. 

These  activities  are  praiseworthy  indeed,  but  they  do  not  by 
any  means  contain  the  solution  of  the  immigrant  problem.  The 
work  that  is  to  be  done  cannot  wait  upon  private  generosity  or 
individual  initiative,  nor  will  the  true  answer  ever  be  given  by 
cities  or  states  acting  by  themselves.  The  task  of  assimilation  is 
national.  It  is  the  Federal  Government  that  lets  in  these  millions 
From  other  shores,  and  it  is  the  Federal  Government  that  must 
accept  the  responsibility  for  their  protection,  development,  and 
Americanization.  The  one  policy  that  carries  with  it  any  cer- 
tainty of  success  is  a  policy  that  will  regard  every  alien  as  a  ward 
of  the  nation,  to  be  guarded,  aided,  and  protected  from  the  very 
day  of  arrival  to  the  day  of  naturalization.  Until  they  have 
mastered  the  language,  become  acquainted  with  their  rights  as 
well  as  their  duties,  and  gained  a  sense  of  belonging,  these 
strangers  within  our  gates  are  as  children,  and  must  be  so 
treated. 

Such  a  policy,  taking  account  of  the  muddles  and  maladjust- 
ments of  the  past,  will  invent  machinery  of  distribution  that  will 
end  the  disastrous  stupidity  of  farmers  huddled  in  industrial  cen- 
ters, tradesmen  and  professional  men  herded  in  mills  and  fac- 
tories, and  skilled  labor  wasting  itself  in  unskilled  drudgeries — a 
machinery  that  will  place  every  immigrant  to  his  own  advantage 
as  well  as  to  the  advantage  of  the  state. 

In  the  growth  of  the  unemployment  problem,  and  the  increase 
in  involuntary  poverty,  may  be  seen  the  evil  results  of  the  theory 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  169 

that  has  insisted  upon  government  as  a  sovereign  power  rather 
than  as  a  working  partnership  with  the  people.  In  the  formula- 
tion of  a  sane  immigration  policy  there  is  the  chance  for  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  put  off  its  purple  robes  of 
aloofness  and  put  on  the  overalls  of  empire-building. 

Government  lands  and  state  lands  lie  idle  while  the  business 
of  pioneering  is  turned  over  to  promoters  who  are  concerned 
only  with  their  profits,  caring  nothing  for  the  human  element  that 
figures  in  their  close  bargains.  Where  is  there  larger  promise  of 
happiness  and  prosperity  than  in  the  transportation  of  immigrant 
agriculturists,  in  community  groups,  to  this  public  land,  together 
with  such  equipment  as  will  enable  them  to  make  a  flying  start  in 
their  conquest  of  the  soil?  It  is  not  a  new  idea,  or  radical,  for 
other  countries  are  using  the  twenty-year-loan  system  to  put  peo- 
ple upon  the  land. 

In  those  isolated  cases  where  immigrant  groups  have  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  into  agriculture,  the  result  has  been  industry, 
thrift,  sobriety,  education,  and  Americanization.  Italians  are 
growing  cotton  on  the  Mississippi  delta,  fruit  in  the  Ozarks  and 
Louisiana,  and  raising  garden-truck  in  the  Atlantic  Coast  States 
and  New  England,  either  rendering  worthless  land  productive  by 
their  toil  or  else  developing  supposedly  waste  tracts. 

The  Poles  are  lovers  of  the  land,  ninety  per  cent  of  them  that 
come  to  the  United  States  being  eager  to  engage  in  agriculture, 
and  the  small  number  able  to  achieve  their  ambition  have  only 
stories  of  success  to  tell.  The  Polish  farmers  of  Wisconsin,  Illi- 
nois, Texas,  and  Kansas  are  not  behind  the  native-born  in  their 
contributions  to  the  general  good,  and  the  Bohemians  are  others 
who  have  done  well  wherever  their  feet  have  touched  the  soil. 

The  investigations  of  the  Immigration  Commission  proved 
that  all  of  those  thus  brought  into  contact  with  opportunity  were 
grasping  it,  taking  out  naturalization  papers,  Americanizing  in 
every  way,  and  playing  their  proper  part  in  municipal,  state,  and 
national  affairs. 

A  second  necessary  stejp jsjlje  creation  of  a  federal  system  of 
public  employment  bureaus  which  may  minister  to  the  needs  of 
the  native-born  as  well  as  of  the  alien.  Individual  states  have 
failed  abjectly  in  this  respect,  for  even  the  nineteen  common- 
wealths that  have  created  free  employment  bureaus  have  done 
little  more  than  to  pile  up  records  of  inadequacy.  Federal  con- 
trol would  cover  the  whole  country,  supplementing  and  assisting 


170  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

the  work  of  existing  organizations,  regulating  private  agencies, 
and  bringing  together  definitely  the  jobless  man  and  the  manless 
job.  Here  again  it  is  a  matter  of  imitation  rather  than  innova- 
tion, for  Great  Britain  and  Germany  have  for  years  been  operat- 
ing national  labor  exchanges  successfully. 

The  United  States  must  follow  the  example  of  European 
countries,  which  meet  the  difficulties  of  poverty  by  the  advance- 
ment of  transportation  costs,  and  also  guard  against  class  con- 
trol of  the  machinery  by  providing  that  both  workers  and  em- 
ployers shall  have  representation  on  a  governing  committee. 

Justice  must  be  made  swift  and  inexpensive,  and  this  cannot 
be  done  until  the  simple  and  innumerable  disputes  of  the  indus- 
trial world  are  removed  from  the  wearisome  processes  of  tradi- 
tional jurisprudence.  As  long  ago  as  1806,  France  created  indus- 
trial courts,  and  the  example  has  been  followed  by  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  and  Belgium.  A  president,  who  represents 
the  public,  and  an  equal  number  of  workers  and  employers  sit  as 
a  jury  rather  than  as  a  court.  Lawyers  are  barred;  the  parties 
to  the  dispute  take  turns  relating  grievance  and  defense,  and  in 
consequence  of  this  simplicity,  ninety  per  cent  of  the  cases  are 
adjusted  without  formal  hearings.  In  event  of  threatened  strikes 
or  lockouts,  the  courts  have  the  power  to  sit  as  boards  of  arbitra- 
tion, and  it  is  only  in  rare  cases  that  satisfactory  agreements  are 
not  reached. 

Compare  the  simplicity  of  this  procedure  with  the  American 
method  of  frequent  trials,  frequent  appeals,  reversed  decisions, 
remanded  cases,  court  costs,  lawyers'  fees,  and  months  of  delay, 
a  gauntlet  that  no  poor  man  dares  to  run.  The  dollar  out  of 
which  an  alien  is  cheated  may  mean  to  him  the  difference  between 
a  bed  or  a  park  bench,  and  certainly  his  sense  of  injustice  will 
not  inspire  him  with  respect  for  democratic  institutions. 

The  processes  of  education  must  be  quickened,  and  greater 
emphasis  should  be  put  upon  the  preparation  of  human  beings 
for  the  business  of  life.  Immigrant  adults,  as  well  as  immigrant 
youth,  should  have  the  privilege  of  instruction  in  the  English 
language,  national,  state,  and  municipal  government,  industrial 
laws,  customs,  and  ways  of  American  life,  hygiene,  sanitation, 
and  all  other  allied  subjects  that  will  fit  them  to  be  intelligent, 
useful  American  citizens. 

Germany,  through  a  compulsory  system  of  continuation 
schools,  has  control  over  a  youth  until  his  eighteenth  year;  and 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  171 

although  the  system  has  been  in  force  since  1891,  it  is  only  now 
that  the  United  States  is  taking  timid,  tentative  steps  in  the 
same  direction.  . 

Federal  standards  of  education  must  be  raised,  and  the  estab- 
lished principle  of  federal  aid  to  the  poorer  states  should  be 
carried  through  to  the  point  where  illiteracy  will  vanish,  whether 
the  illiterate  be  a  native-born  child  or  an  adult  alien.  Not  the 
least  vital  task  of  the  public  school  system  is  to  serve  the  immi- 
grant during  his  struggle  for  prosperity  and  citizenship. 

Health  is  no  less  important  than  education,  and  authoritative 
investigation  has  shown  that  adult  delinquency  and  dependency 
are  largely  due  to  neglect  in  connection  with  the  physical  defects 
and  deficiencies  of  the  growing  youth.  Not  alone  is  it  necessary 
to  have  medical  inspection  and  dental  clinics  for  every  child  that 
passes  through  the  public  schools  of  the  United  States,  but  par- 
ticularly in  the  case  of  the  immigrant  and  the  poverty-stricken 
native-born  there  is  need  of  infant  dispensaries,  model  kitchens, 
milk  stations,  visiting  nurses,  and  a  program  of  preventive  medi- 
cine. 

While  new  machinery  in  large  measure  may  be  necessary  for 
the  doing  of  all  these  things,  the  plant  for  its  housing  is  already 
at  hand.  The  school  buildings  of  the  United  States  offer  them- 
selves for  the  purpose  in  full  perfection  of  convenience,  economy, 
and  effectiveness.  As  it  is  today,  the  schools,  which  represent 
the  largest  single  investment  of  the  people's  money,  are  in  use  a 
scant  seven  hours  a  day  for  an  average  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  days  a  year. 

The  neighborhood  is  the  group  unit  next  in  importance  to  the 
family  itself,  and  the  school  building  is  the  center  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. What  reaches  every  child  in  the  United  States  can 
reach  every  parent,  and  not  only  does  the  wider  use  of  the  school 
plant  hold  out  its  rich  promise  to  the  alien,  but  to  the  native  born 
as  well. 

In  the  every  building  serving  its  neighborhood  group  may  be 
placed  the  official  representative  of  the  federal  system  of  immi- 
grant distribution,  the  branch  office  of  the  federal  employment 
exchange,  the  industrial  court,  the  medical  inspection  bureau,  the 
dental  clinic,  the  milk  station,  the  visiting  nurses,  the  infant  dis- 
pensary, the  free-legal-aid  bureau,  the  health  office,  and  the 
juvenile  court.  Here  is  the  natural  and  suitable  place  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  adult  alien  in  English  and  citizenship,  for  the  art 


172  RACE- ASSIMILATION 

gallery,  for  the  branch  library,  for  the  model  kitchen,  and  for 
the  development  of  the  play  instinct. 

Night  use  of  the  school  buildings  strikes  at  the  very  heart  of 
the  leisure-time  problem.  In  ctities  thousands  of  little  children 
play  in  the  streets,  menaced  alike  by  evil  environment  and  the 
police  court,  and  in  the  country  life  is  admittedly  dull  and  stag- 
nant. Growing  girls  are  forced  into  the  dance  hall,  men  into  the 
saloon,  and  women  either  gossip  across  stoops  and  fire  escapes  or 
become  fungous  growths  in  kitchens.  In  competition  with  the 
reckless  greeds  of  commercialized  amusement,  the  social  center 
offers  amateur  theatricals,  debates,  dancing  parties,  moving  pic- 
ture shows,  receptions,  gymnasium  games,  all  in  a  clean,  inspiring 
environment,  subjected  to  the  wholesome  restraints  of  the  family 
group  and  neighborly  friendship. 

The  immigrants  can  be  tapped  for  their  rich  store  of  folk 
songs,  games,  and  traditional  customs,  so  that  not  only  will  the 
native  born  be  enriched  and  broadened,  but  the  alien  given  that 
absolutely  essential  sense  of  belonging.  To  watch  an  interracial 
pageant  in  a  New  York  school  building,  shared  in  by  twenty  na- 
tionalities, happy,  laughing,  proud,  and  friendly,  is  complete  an- 
swer to  the  question  of  assimilation. 

The  school  building  should  be  the  polling-place,  and  through 
the  medium  of  the  social  center  it  is  possible  to  effect  the  self- 
organization  of  voters  into  a  deliberative  body  that  will  always 
be  in  session,  the  school  house  its  headquarters.  Would  not  this 
be  more  inspiring  to  the  alien  than  the  location  of  voting  booths 
in  livery  stables,  barber  shops,  and  sheds,  or  the  gathering  of 
voters  in  some  saloon-connected  room  or  in  a  hall  paid  for  by 
interested  parties  out  of  mysterious  funds? 

With  specific  reference  to  the  alien,  the  school-principal  em- 
ployed by  the  educational  authorities  to  look  after  the  children 
of  immigrants  may  also  be  employed  by  the  immigration  authori- 
ties to  care  for  the  adults  as  well.  His  should  be  the  proposition 
of  neighborhood  guardian  of  these  wards  of  the  nation,  looking 
after  their  inclusion  in  the  proper  classes,  acquainting  them  with 
the  services  rendered  by  employment  bureau,  health  office,  free 
legal  aid  bureau,  and  visiting  nurses,  and  drawing  them  into  the 
night  play  of  the  social  center.  In  thickly  settled  communities, 
where  a  principal  would  not  have  the  necessary  time,  an  assistant 
or  assistants  might  be  appointed. 

A  beginning  has  been  made.     Wisconsin,  Indiana,  Massachu- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  173 

setts,  Kansas,  New  York,  Washington,  New  Jersey,  and  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  are  in  possession  of  a  law  that  permits  the 
people  to  use  school  buildings,  aside  from  school  hours,  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  and  discussing  "any  and  all  subjects  and 
questions  which  in  their  judgment  may  appertain  to  the  educa- 
tional, political,  economic,  artistic,  and  moral  interest  of  the 
citizens."  Out  of  its  has  grown  the  new  profession  of  social 
secretary. 

All  that  is  necessary  is  the  adoption  of  a  federal  policy  that 
will  give  unity,  purpose,  and  dynamic  direction  to  what  is  now 
isolated  and  sporadic,  and  the  task  of  immigrant  assimilation  is 
a  sound  base  for  such  a  policy.  Fortunately  enough,  the  money 
for  the  work  is  at  hand,  and  what  is  more,  it  is  money  provided 
by  the  immigrant  himself.  Today,  in  the  United  States  Treasury, 
there  is  a  balance  of  $10,000,000  in  the  head  tax  fund  con- 
tributed to  by  every  new  arrival.  There  is  no  question  that  this 
income  was  primarily  intended  as  a  secred  trust  fund,  for  the 
law  of  1882,  levying  a  tax  of  fifty  cents  on  every  immigrant, 
provided  that  "the  money  thus  collected  .  .  .  shall  constitute  a 
fund  to  be  called  the  immigrant  fund,  and  shall  be  used  ...  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  regulating  immigration  tinder  this  act  and 
for  the  care  of  immigrants  arriving  in  the  United  States,  for  the 
relief  of  such  as  are  in  distress,  and  for  the  general  purposes  and 
expenses  of  carrying  this  act  into  effect." 

In  1894  the  head  tax  was  raised  to  one  dollar,  in  1903  to  two 
dollars,  and  in  1907  to  four  dollars.  In  1909  the  immigrant  fund 
was  abolished,  and  the  headtax  receipts  were  dumped  into  the 
Treasury,  the  regulation  of  immigration  being  forced  to  depend 
upon  such  annual  allowances  as  Congress  saw  fit  to  make.  The 
$10,000,000  balance  belongs  to  the  immigrants,  and  even  if  their 
need  were  less  bitter,  it  would  still  be  unfair  and  dishonest  to 
divert  a  trust  fund  from  its  avowed  object  to  purposes  that  were 
never  intended. 

The  dreadful  European  conflict  will  not  have  been  without 
its  service  if  the  United  States,  alarmed  by  the  persistence  of  the 
hyphen  in  American  life,  adopts  an  immigration  policy  that  in 
its  essence  will  be  a  policy  of  hope, 'justice,  aspiration,  and  prog- 
ress for  all  the  oppressed  and  unhappy,  whether  they  be  native 
born  or  strangers  within  the  gates. 

Hopes  of  the  Hyphenated,     Century,   v.   91,   350-63.     January,    1916. 


174  RACE-ASSIMILATION 


THE    AMERICANIZATION    OF   THE 
IMMIGRANT 

GROVER  G.  HUEBNER 

UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 

/.     The  Problem  of  Americanization 

"Americanization"  is  assimilation  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
that  process  by  which  immigrants  are  transformed  into  Amer- 
icans. It  is  not  the  mere  adoption  of  American  citizenship, 
but  the  actual  raising  of  the  immigrant  to  the  American  eco- 
nomic, social  and  moral  standard  of  life.  Then  has  an  immigrant 
been  Americanized  only  when  his  mind  and  will  have  been 
united  with  the  mind  and  will  of  the  American  so  that  the  two 
act  and  think  together.  The  American  of  today  is,  therefore, 
not  the  American  of  yesterday.  He  is  the  result  of  the  assimila- 
tion of  all  the  different  nationalities  of  the  United  States  which 
have  been  united  so  as  to  think  and  act  together. 

Again,  Americanization  is  very  different  from  amalgamation.1 
Amalgamation  is  but  one  force  which  appears  in  the  American- 
ization process  and  that  an  unimportant  one,  as  it  usually  occurs 
only  after  the  immigrant  has  been  at  least  partly  Americanized. 
Furthermore,  "to  think  and  act  together"  does  not  necessitate  that 
race  ties  are  wholly  lost.  That  is  its  usual  meaning,  but  nation- 
alities such  as  the  Jews,  Italians,  Bohemians  and  even  Scan- 
dinavians often  settle  in  -practically  exclusive  settlements.  Such 
settlements  are  Americanized  in  as  much  as  the  immigrants  learn 
to  think  and  act  like  Americans.  "To  think  and  act  together"  in 
some  cases  is,  therefore,  to  think  and  act  like  Americans,  and  in 
others  it  is  the  actual  uniting  of  the  minds  and  activities  of  the 
immigrants  with  those  of  the  Americans  by  actual,  permanent 
association. 

Finally,  it  is  essential  to  recognize  degrees  of  Americaniza- 
tion. Some  immigrants  will  adopt  certain  American  methods, 
customs  and  ideas,  but  will  refuse,  or  prove  themselves  unable, 
to  adopt  others.  Some  will,  quite  fully,  adopt  the  industrial 
methods  of  American  industry  and  yet  be  unable  to  speak  the 
English  language.  While  they  are  not  fully  Americanized,  they 
are  at  least  to  a  greater  or  less  degree. 

1  Prof.   Commons,   Chaut.,  28:42;   Mayo-Smith,  Pol.  Sci.  Qua.,  9:670. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  175 

//.     The  Forces  of  Americanization 

The  question  now  to  determine  is :  What  is  being  done  to 
meet  this  growing  difficulty  in  the  problem  of  Americanization? 
What  are  the  Americanizing  forces  ?  How  do  they  affect  the  im- 
migrant? Are  they  the  same  for  all  nationalities?  Are  they  the 
same  for  the  city  as  for  the  country?  To  what  extent  are  they 
successful  with  the  various  nationalities?  What  forces  are  doing 
most  to  meet  the  problem? 

(a)     The  School 

The  importance  of  the  school  as  an  Americanization  force  lies 
chiefly  in  its  effect  upon  the  second  generation;  yet  indirectly  it 
affects  the  adult  immigrant  himself,2  in  as  much  as  his  children, 
consciously  and  unconsciously,  influence  him  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. A  considerable  number  of  immigrants,  also,  come  as  chil- 
dren and  can  and  do  attend  school. 


What  Does  the  School  Do  to  Americanise  the  Immigrant ? 

The  following  are  some  of  the  main  Americanizing  activities 
of  the  public  school: 

1.  It  at  once  throws  the  children  of  different  nationalities 
into  mutual  relationship.    This  inevitably  breaks  up  the  habits  of 
any  one  of  the  foreign  nationalities.     The  next  step  is,  then,  to 
adopt  a  common  way  of  thinking  and  acting,  which  practically 
means  the  adoption  of  the  American  standard.     This  does  not, 
however,  apply  to  exclusive  foreign  colonies  where  schools  may 
consist  of  a  single  nationality.    In  many  cases  it  not  only  means 
the  forced  association  of  different  nationalities,  but  of  an  immi- 
grant child  with  children  who  are  already  Americanized.     It  is 
evident  that  in  this  case,  which  is  the  normal  one,  the  immigrant 
child  necessarily  loses  its  -foreign  ideas  and  unconsciously  adopts 
the*' thoughts  and  activities  of  the  American  companions.     Even 
in  the  so-called  foreign  colonies,  where  schools  are  filled  with 
practically  a  single    nationality,    the    un-Americanized    will    be 
obliged  to  see  the  customs  of  those  of  their  own  nationality  who 
are  already  partly  Americanized. 

2.  The  public  school  teaches  the  children  the  English  lan- 

2  U.  S.  Ind.  Com.,  Vol.  15,  p.  475. 


i;6  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

guagc.     This  enables  them  to  associate  with  the  various  nation- 
alities in  their  community,  even  outside  of  the  school. 

It  is  probably  necessary  that  a  distinction  be  drawn  here  be- 
tween the  country  and  the  city.  The  testimony  is  universal  that 
the  English  language  is  essential  for  Americanization  in  the  city. 
Yet  in  the  country  it  is  quite  plain  that  the  English  language  is 
not  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a  very  considerable  degree  of 
Americanization.  There  are  many  farmers  in  the  northwest  who 
cannot  speak  English  and  yet  they  are  acquainted  with  the  Amer- 
ican methods  of  agriculture.  There  are  settlements  of  Bohemi- 
ans, Germans  and  Scandinavians  in  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  who 
cannot  speak  English,  but  they  are  Americans  in  practically  every 
other  sense. 

3.  The  public  school  tends  to  break  up  hostility  between  na- 
tionalities.   Not  only  is  this  the  natural  consequence  of  the  close 
association  between  the  children  of  different  nationalities  in  the 
school,  but  the  teacher  prevents  its  open  appearance  and  teaches 
the  existence  of  common  interests.     Social  solidarity  is  secured. 

4.  It  teaches  American  traditions  and  the  history  of  our  insti- 
tutions.    This  again   means  a  breaking    up  of   race  ties   and   a 
building  up  of   social   solidarity.     Under  this   comes,   also,   the 
growth  of  American  patriotism,  which,  while  not  important  in- 
dustrially, is  a  step  toward  the  assimilation  of  minds  and  wills. 

5.  The  public  school  is  the  first  and  chief  trainer  of  the  im- 
migrant child's  mind  to  fit  it  for  originality  and  inventiveness.    It 
enlarges  the  child's  capacity. 

6.  The   introduction   of   machinery   makes   it   essential   that 
labor  shift  from  one  kind  of  work  to  another.    The  public  school, 
in  training  the  minds  of  the  children,  fits  them  to  meet  this  ver- 
satility in  American  industry. 

7.  The  American   characteristic    of    aspiration    to   reach    a 
higher  plane  of  production  is  transmitted  to  the  immigrant  child. 
This  Americanizes  the  thoughts  of  the  immigrant. 

8.  Finally,  the  public  school,  by  the  introduction  of  manual 
training,  not  only  tends  to  give  the  child  some  idea  of  American 
industrial  methods,  but  teaches  him  that  manual  work  is  here 
the  universal  rule  and  is  not  a  stamp  of  inferiority. 

Little  need  be  said  of  the  parochial  schools.  Opinions  differ 
even  as  to  whether  or  not  they  are  a  positive  hindrance  to 
Americanization.  It  seems,  however,  that  they  do  something 
toward  assimilation.  In  many  cases  they  mean  the  break-up  of 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  1 77 

foreign  nationality  by  bringing  several  nationalities  into  associa- 
tion. At  times  they  bring  un-Americanized  children  into  contact 
with  Americanized  children.  They  also  teach  some  of  the 
branches  taught  in  the  public  schools. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  these  church 
schools  often  consist  of  but  a  single  nationality,  and  that  means 
the  strengthening  of  race  ties.  Then,  too,  the  church  school  fre- 
quently leads  to  priest  domination,  which  is  the  very  opposite  of 
original  thinking,  of  inventiveness,  of  individual  ambition  and  of 
the  participation  of  the  immigrant  in  industrial,  social  and  polit- 
ical control.  Finally,  the  church  school  frequently  not  only 
hinders  the  adoption  of  the  English  language,  but  tends  to  per- 
petuate foreign  languages. 

The  influence  of  industrial  schools  outside  of  the  public  school 
is  conceded.  "The  industrial  school  plants  itself  squarely  be- 
tween the  tenement  and  the  public  school."3  The  Americanization 
is  mostly  industrial,  but  aside  from  this  it  is  much  like  that  of 
the  public  school.  Evening  schools,  wherever  they  do  not  fail, 
are  to  the  adult,  on  a  limited  scale,  what  the  public  school  is  to 
the  child. 

****** 

(b)     Trade  Unionism 

While  the  school  is  the  greatest  Americanization  force  for  the 
second  generation,  it  has  but  an  indirect  effect  upon  the  adult. 
The  problem  of  how  to  induce  this  adult  immigrant  to  adopt 
American  life  is  rapidly  coming  to  be  a  function  of  trade  union- 
ism. Professor  Ripley  says*  "Whatever  our  judgment  is  as  to 
the  expediency  of  the  industrial  policy  of  our  American  trade 
unions,  no  student  of  contemporary  conditions  can  deny  that  they 
are  a  mighty  factor  in  affecting  the  assimilation  of  our  foreign 
population." 

Several  limitations  must  be  noted  in  giving  trade  unions  a 
relative  position  among  other  Americanizing  forces.  First,  their 
influence  is  generally  limited  to  the  first  generation ;  their  effect 
upon  the  second  generation  is  much  inferior  to  that  of  other 
forces.  Second,  their  influence  applies  only  to  the  city.  Third, 
their  aggregate  effect  has  as  yet  been  of  comparatively  short 
duration,  as  the  movement  toward  the  unskilled  immigrants  is 
hnt  a  recent  development. 

8J.  A.   Riis,   "The  Children   of  the  Poor,"  Chap.   XII. 
4  W.   Z.    Ripley,   At.   Mo.,   Ap.,    1904,   p.    299. 


178  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

What  Does  the  Union  Do  to  Americanise  the  Immigrants? 

Some  of  the  most  important  activities  in  this  direction  are  the 
following : 

1.  The  union  teaches  the  immigrant  self-government.     It  is 
the  first  place  where  they  learn  to  govern  their  own  activities  and 
to  obey  officers  whom  they  themselves  elect1,  where  each  has  a 
vote,  and  each  can  state  his  grievances,  not  to  be  remedied  by 
some  superior  force,  as  in  his  native  country,  but  by  himself  and 
his  fellow-workmen. 

2.  The  union  gives  the  immigrant  a  sense  of  common  cause, 
which  leads  to  a  sense  of  public,  not  merely  private,  interest. 

3.  It  throws  different  nationalities  into  united  groups,  so  that 
the  foreign  nationality  of  any  one  of  them  becomes  lost.     The 
next  step  is  to  adopt  a  common  way  of  thinking  and  acting,  which 
is  Americanization. 

4.  It  often   brings    foreigners   into   direct   association   with 
members  of  unions  who  have  already  been  partly  or  wholly  as- 
similated.    These  foreigners  then  learn  to  see  the  difference  be- 
tween the  customs  of  these  assimilated  workmen  and  their  own. 

5.  The  union  usually  requires  every  member  to  be  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  or  to  have  declared  his  intention  of  becom- 
ing one. 

6.  It  develops  foresight  in  the  immigrant.    In  fact,  the  very 
act  of  joining  a  union  is  an  evidence  of  foresight.6 

7.  It  does  away  with  the  arbitrary  dictation  of  bosses  and 
employers,  and  introduces  the  idea  of  partial  control  of  the  in- 
dustry by  the  employee. 

8.  The  union  shows  the  immigrant  that  he  does  not  hold  his 
"job"  solely  because  of  the  generosity  or  personal  favor  of  the 
employer,  but  because  he  has  an  inherent  right  to  work. 

9.  It  does  away  with  priest  rule. 

10.  It  raises  the  immigrant's  wages,  reduces  his  hours  and 
improves  his  physical  working  conditions.     In  other  words,   it 
enables  him  to  adopt  the  American  social  and  moral  standard  of 
living. 

11.  It  breaks  up  hostilities  between  nationalities.    This  is  not 
only  in  itself  a  step  toward  Americanization,  but  is  essential  be- 
fore the  immigrants  can  begin  to  adopt  the  thoughts  and  activities 
of  Americans. 

1  City  Wilderness,  p.   109. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  i?9 

(c)     Physical  Environment  and  the  Presence  of  American  Life 

Not  a  little  Americanizing  influence  is  exerted  by  the  physical 
conditions  in  which  the  immigrant  lives  after  he  arrives  in  the 
United  State.8  Climate,  for  example,  compels  a  change  of  dress, 
manner  of  living  ard  kind  of  occupation.  Physical  environment 
tends  to  destroy  his  old  habits  and  customs,  and  he  adopts  in  theii 
place  American  habits  and  customs,  because  they  are  better  suited 
to  American  physical  conditions. 

In  the  beginning  of  our  history,  the  strongest  Americanizing 
force  was  "frontier  life,"  which  is  a  form  of  physical  environ- 
ment. Under  its  influence  the  immigrants  were  transformed  so 
rapidly  and  silently  that  there  was  not  until  recently  such  a  prob- 
lem as  modern  Americanization.  This  force  is,  of  course,  dimin- 
ishing in  importance,  but  in  the  country  of  today  there  exists 
something  very  much  like  it.  Even  when  immigrants  live  in 
colonies,  they  frequently  become  Americans,  in  the  first  genera- 
tion."7 Still  there  are  no  unions  in  the  country,  and  the  schools 
are  inferior  to  those  of  the  city.  Why  is  it  that  they  American- 
ize? Quite  probably  it  is  because  of  this  force  of  physical  en- 
vironment in  the  .form  of  frontier  life,  slightly  modified.  These 
immigrants  do  not  Americanize  as  rapidly  or  as  completely  as 
they  did  years  ago,  but  they  Americanize  in  a  similar  way.  It  is 
slower  than  in  the  city — but  it  is  permanent.  It  is  the  distinguish- 
ing feature  of  Americanization  in  the  country. 

In  the  city  it  is  essential  to  note  the  Americanizing  influence 
which  is  exercised  by  the  mere  presence  of  American  life.  There 
is  a  continual  rush  of  industry.  In  order  to  live  the  immigrant 
must  work  largely  at  American  occupations,  and  this,  either 
through  the  boss  or  through  competition,  compels  him  to  adopt 
American  industrial  methods.  He  sees  the  American  system  of 
government,  the  American  way  of  living,  American  activity  and 
American  ideals.  The  difference  between  them  and  his  own  must 
influence  him  in  the  direction  of  those  he  sees  all  about  him  on 
the  streets  and  at  his  work. 

The  extent  to  which  this  Americanizes  the  immigrant  depends 
partly  upon  his  inherent  ability  to  assimilate.  A  race  which 
crowds  into  colonies  and  avoids  other  nationalities  is  not  as  much 
affected  in  this  way  as  one  which  willingly  lives  among  the 

8  Mayo-Smith,   Pol.    Sci.   Qua.,   9:439. 
7U.  S.  Ind.   Com.,   15:500. 


i8o  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

people  of  other  countries.  But  even  in  such  cases  this  force 
cannot  be  disregarded.  All  nationalities,  also,  have  not  as  great 
a  sense  of  observation  as  the  Jew.  All  are  not  held  back  by  the 
same  home  ties  as  the  Italian.  All  have  not  as  receptive  minds 
as  the  Irish,  and  the  intentions  of  one  class  are  not  as  favorable 
as  are  those  of  another. 

Still,  although  limited  in  many  ways,  the  force  of  physical 
environment  and  the  presence  of  American  life  have  an  Amer- 
icanizing influence  which  should  not  be  disregarded. 

(d)     The  Church 

The  action  of  the  church  as  an  Americanization  force  is  much 
like  that  of  the  parochial  school.  It  does  something  to  American- 
ize the  immigrant ;  but,  also,  in  another  sense,  acts  as  a  hindrance. 
Its  greatest  influence  is  in  molding  the  morals  of  the  immigrant. 
In  a  certain  sense,  also,  it  acts  as  a  co-ordinating  force.  Many 
nationalities  comprising  the  great  bulk  of  immigration  belong 
to  the  same  denomination — the  Catholic.  So  it  is  with  the 
Italians,  the  Bohemians,  the  Irish,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Hun- 
garians, Lithuanians,  Slavonians,  Polanders,  and  most  of  the 
people  from  southeastern  Europe.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  bitterest  hatred  often  exists  between  these  very  national- 
ities who  belong  to  the  same  denomination.  The  church,  in 
some  instances,  tends  to  bring  Americanized  immigrants  into  as- 
sociation with  un-Americanized  immigrants.  It  also  tends  to 
prevent  lawlessness.  It  informs  the  immigrant  what  the  new 
laws  are  and  how  they  differ  from  those  of  his  native  country. 
It  tells  him  what  the  new  country  expects  of  him  socially,  polit- 
ically, and  industrially.  Finally,  the  church  does  something  to 
obliterate  slum  conditions,  thus  not  merely  raising  the  immi- 
grant's standard  of  life,  but  making  it  possible  for  other  Amer- 
icanization forces  to  permanently  affect  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  church  makes  possible  "priest  domina- 
tion," which  is  the  opposite  of  American  thinking  and  activity. 
It  tends  to  perpetuate  the  foreign  language.  Then,  too,  the  very 
fact  that  in  immigrant  districts  a  church  often  consists  of  a  single 
nationality,  makes  possible  a  hatred  between  nationalities.  Fur- 
thermore, the  church  often  works  in  opposition  to  the  public 
school,  and  sometimes  in  opposition  to  the  union.  It  frequently 
enters  politics  in  the  objectionable  form  in  which  the  priest  orders 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  181 

the  members  of  his  church  to  vote  for  certain  men  and  issues. 
This  is  the  very  opposite  of  American  thought  and  activity. 
Finally,  the  teachings  of  the  church  are,  in  many  cases,  brought 
to  the  United  States  by  the  immigrants  themselves,  and  in  this 
way  tend  to  remind  men  of  the  past  and  to  perpetuate  foreign 
thoughts  and  customs. 

The  extent  to  which  the  church  reaches  the  immigrants  varies 
with  different  churches  and  nationalities.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  church  which  most  affects  them  is  the  Roman  Catholic.  This 
is  only  true,  however,  because  more  and  more  of  the  immigrants 
are  annually  coming  from  the  Catholic  countries. 

Attendance  differs  with  nationalities.  The  Italians,  for  exam- 
ple, care  much  less  for  the  church  in  the  United  States  than  they 
did  in  Italy.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Irish,  in  as  much  as  they 
found  the  church  the  very  bulwark  of  their  liberty  at  home,  re- 
main with  it  wherever  they  go ;  but  even  they  often  patronize  the 
public  instead  of  the  church  school.  Other  nationalities  espe- 
cially under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  the  Slavs, 
Hungarians,  Lithuanians,  and  Polanders. 

The  first  generation  of  the  Jews,  even  more  than  the  Catholic 
nationalities,  are  under  the  influence  of  the  church.  They  will 
choose  one  occupation  instead  of  another  in  order  to  attend  to 
their  church  affairs.  But  with  them  there  is  also  a  tendency  to 
desert  the  church  after  they  have  been  here  for  some  time.  One 
Jew  said :  "My  father  prays  every  day ;  I  pray  once  a  week ;  my 
son  never  prays."8 

The  Protestant  churches  also  exert  some  influence,  but  it  is 
not  so  much  among  the  immigrants  of  the  industrial  centers. 
They  affect  Englishmen,  Germans,  Scandinavians  and  those  na- 
tionalities in  general  who  formerly  composed  the  bulk  of  immi- 
gration. Their  influence,  wherever  it  exists  at  all,  is,  with  some 
exceptions,  more  rapid  and  permanent  than  in  the  case  of  the 
Jewish  and  Catholic  churches,  because  they  do  not  offer  so  much 
resistance  to  '.he  introduction  of  the  English  language. 

(e)   Politics. 

In  1900  56.8  per  cent  of  the  foreign  born  males  of  voting  age 
in  the  United  States  were  naturalized,  8.3  per  cent  had  filed  their 
first  papers,  14.9  per  cent  were  unknown,  and  20  per  cent  were 

*  "Americans   in  Process,"  p.   272. 


i8a  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

aliens.8  Thus,  politics  directly  affects  considerably  more  than  the 
majority  of  the  immigrants. 

In  the  past  this  influence  of  politics  upon  the  immigrants  has 
done  much  to  assimilate  them.10  Its  effect  today  depends  upon  its 
local  conditions.  On  the  one  hand,  in  many  of  the  large  indus- 
trial centers  the  political  "boss"  has  some  control  over  the  immi- 
grant's "job."  He  orders  him  to  vote  for  a  certain  candidate, 
and  the  immigrant,  through  fear  of  his  displeasure,  votes  as  he  is 
told.  The  ballot,  under  such  conditions,  is  not  an  exercise  of  a 
right,  but  of  a  compulsory  order,  whose  every  detail  is  deter- 
mined, not  by  the  immigrant,  but  by  the  political  boss.  Such  a 
condition  does  not  mean  the  participation  in  government  by  the 
multitude,  and  certainly  does  not  lead  to  a  condition  in  which  the 
workman  will  participate  in  the  control  of  industry.  It  is  the 
very  opposite,  for  it  tells  the  immigrant  that  his  "job"  belongs  to 
him,  not  because  of  his  right  to  work,  but  because  of  the  pleasure 
of  some  other  person. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  case  of  those  immigrants  who  are 
not  in  the  power  of  the  political  boss  of  the  immigrant  colonies, 
politics  is  one  of  the  most  striking  differences  between  American 
life  and  life  in  their  native  country.  When  they  vote  it  is  an 
expression  of  their  will,  and  inevitably  spurs  them  on  to  learn 
how  to  express  that  will  more  intelligently.  It  tells  them  that 
they  are  part  of  society;  that  they  have  a  voice  in  the  control  of 
their  actions,  and  that  their  interests  are  not  merely  private,  but 
are  public.  Every  important  step  in  our  political  system,  to  them, 
means  further  adoption  of  American  life. 

(f)     Miscellaneous  Forces. 

The  press  acts  as  an  Americanization  force  in  the  case  of 
some  immigrants.  It  does  little,  however,  to  assimilate  those 
non-English-speaking  nationalities  who  are  becoming  most  im- 
portant as  immigrants.  The  constant  opposition  of  some  newspapers 
against  such  immigrants  as  the  Italians,  Poles  and  Hungarians  is 
likely  to  cause  hostility  between  these  immigrants  and  the 
Americans.  Furthermore,  the  English  press,  in  the  case  of  these 
immigrants,  can  reach  directly  only  the  second  generation,  as  in 
most  instances  the  first  generation  cannot  read  the  English  lan- 

•U.  S.  Census  on  Pop.,  1900. 
10  Mayo-Smith,   Pol.    Sci.   Qua.,   9:665. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  183 

guage.  There  are  some  papers  printed  in  the  languages  of  these 
people,  however,  and  these,  while  handicapped  by  the  very  Ian-, 
guage  which  they  use,  often  convey  American  principles  to  the 
foreigners.  Some  of  them  discuss  political,  social  and  economic 
issues  much  as  English  papers  do,  and  in  this  way  tend  to  change 
the  immigrant's  thought  and  activity. 

In  the  case  of  those  nationalities  who  speak  English  and  those 
who  are  welcomed  to  the  United  States  by  the  newspapers,  such 
as  the  English,  Irish,  Welsh,  Scotch,  Germans,  and  Scandina- 
vians, the  English  press  acts  as  an  assimilator.  Yet  even  here  it 
must  be  noted  that  many  of  the  papers  are  ruled  by  the  same 
spirit  which  dominates  politics  in  some  of  the  industrial  centers. 

Little  need  be  said  of  books  and  libraries*  They  tend  to 
assimilate  certain  classes  of  immigrants,  but  they  do  not  reach 
those  who  are  hardest  to  assimilate  and  those  who  need  it  most 

Private  immigrant  aid  societies,  also,  need  but  be  mentioned. 
Only  when  more  of  them  have  been  formed  and  when  they  have 
operated  for  some  time  can  their  real  value  be  ascertained. 

Municipal  governments  are,  also,  beginning  to  undertake  ac- 
tivities which  tend  to  assimilate  the  immigrants,  at  least  from  the 
social  standpoint.  They  prevent  unsanitary  tenement  houses, 
thus  forcing  a  change  in  the  home  life  of  some  of  the  immigrants 
and  improving  their  social  condition.  They  introduce  public 
playgrounds,  which  tend  to  throw  the  children  of  the  immigrants 
into  association  with  other  children.  They  establish  baths,  they 
minimize  drunkenness  and  make  efforts  to  prevent  pauperism. 
All  this  aids  in  the  movement  of  assimilation. 

The  theaters,11  popular  amusements11  "boys'  clubs"  private  so- 
cieties of  various  kinds,  even  American  slang  and  the  street  life 
which  prevails  in  the  large  cities,  all  act  as  assimilators.  There 
is  no  more  potent  factor  in  the  lives  of  some  of  the  immigrant 
children  than  the  influences  which  they  meet  on  the  streets. 

Finally,  it  is  necessary  to  consider,  briefly,  the  activity  of  the 
employer  as  an  Americanizer.  In  this  respect,  employers  mftst  be 
considered  as  individuals  and  not  a  class,  for  many  care  nothing 
about  Americanization,  and  others  actually  oppose  it.  Some  of 
them,  however,  voluntarily  give  their  workmen  high  wages, 
reasonable  hours,  and  good  physical  and  sanitary  conditions  of 

*  This   statement   should  now  be   modified   in   view   of   the   recent   wide 
extension  of  library   activities   for  foreigners. — [Editor.] 
"Mayo-Smith,  Pol.  Sci.  Qua.,  9:653. 


iS4  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

labor.  In  this  way  employers  enable  the  immigrant  to  adopt  the 
American  standard  of  life,  at  least  in  the  economic  field.  Again, 
in  many  instances  employers  have  adopted  the  factory  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  sweatshop.  The  factory  takes  the  immigrant  out  of 
his  home  and  compels  him  to  work  with  other  workmen,  many 
of  whom  are  already  Americanized  and  of  different  nationalities. 
Sometimes  employers  purposely  employ  men  of  different  nation- 
alities to  prevent  clannishness.  Besides,  the  factory  system  is  in 
itself  a  revelation  to  the  immigrant  from  southern  Europe.  It 
means  the  compulsory  adoption  of  American  methods. 

///.    Conclusion 

The  problem  of  the  Americanization  of  the  immigrant  is  very 
huge  in  proportion,  and  is  becoming  increasingly  complex.  The 
number  of  immigrants,  together  with  the  population  of  foreign 
parentage,  might  seem  threatening  to  Americanism.  This  large 
bulk  is  annually  increasing,  and  a  greater  and  greater  proportion 
of  the  increase  each  year  consists  of  nationalities  who  are  in- 
herently more  difficult  to  Americanize  than  were  the  immigrants 
of  the  past. 

But,  however  rapidly  the  difficulties  of  Americanization  may 
be  increasing,  the  efficiency  and  activity  of  the  forces  of  Amer- 
icanization are  increasing  even  more  rapidly.  The  most  promis- 
ing field  for  Americanization  is  with  the  second  generation,  and 
\it  is  here  that  the  public  school  stands  pre-eminent.  The  chief 
hope  of  Americanizing  the  adult  immigrant  lies  with  trade  union- 
ism, whose  rapid  adoption  of  Americanization  as  a  function  is 
applauded  even  by  those  who  condemn  most  of  its  policies. 
Physical  environment,  the  church,  politics,  the  employer,  and 
also  numerous  miscellaneous  forces  exert  an  Americanizing  in- 
fluence to  a  greater  or  less  degree. 

New  forces  are  being  developed ;  old  methods  are,  with  some 
exceptions,  being  increasingly  perfected.  The  problem,  both  in 
its  increasing  scope  and  complexity,  is  being  met  by  the  forces  of 
Americanization. 

Annals   Amer.   Acad.   of  Pol.   and   Soc.    Science.      27:653-75.     May   '06. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  185 

SOME   AMERICAN   EFFORTS   AT   IMMIGRANT 
LEADERSHIP 

ARCHIBALD  MCCLURE 
STUDENT  OF  ALIEN  PEOPLES.    ANALYST  OF  AMERICANIZATION 

What  are  some  of  these  efforts  at  American  leadership  and 
what  is  their  effect  on  the  immigrant  people? 

Public  Efforts 

The  first  touch  which  the  immigrant  has  with  the  United 
States  is  with  our  Federal  government  through  its  men  and 
equipment  at  the  immigration  ports  of  entry.  This  introduction 
to  the  United  States  is  quite  different  from  the  first  glimpse  that 
a  native  born  American  has  of  his  country.  The  government  is 
for  most  of  us  one  of  the  last  things  with  which  we  have  any 
necessary  dealings;  with  the  immigrants  it  is  the  first.  Much 
depends,  therefore,  on  the  first  impression  which  will  be  gained 
largely  through  the  personal  treatment  given  by  the  officials  at 
Ellis  Island,  Angel  Island,  at  Baltimore,  Boston,  Philadelphia 
and  the  other  ports  of  entry.  Year  by  year  the  government  is 
making  conditions*  at  these  places  more  attractive.  Due  to  the 
efforts  of  some  of  the  men  in  the  immigration  service  constant 
attempts  are  being  made  to  give  Ellis  Island  less  the  appear- 
ance of  a  prison,  and  more  that  of  a  place  of  hospitality  and 
courtesy.  Inadequate  as  its  facilities  will  be  if,  after  the  war, 
immigration  again  soars  up  toward  a  million  mark,  it  will  yet  be 
giving  the  strangers  a  less  annoying  welcome  than  was  the  case 
some  years  ago.  The  great  hospitals,  the  provision  of  "kosher" 
meals  for  the  Hebrew  newcomers,  the  opportunities  for  play 
provided  for  those  who  are  detained  at  the  island,  the  Sunday 
afternoon  concerts,  are  simply  signs  to  the  immigrant  that  the 
government  is  not  a  mere  machine,  but  has  a  heart  in  its  work 
as  well. 

Although  a  commissioner  of  immigration  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  believes  that  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  was  the  best  law 
Congress  ever  passed,  and  though  he  says  he  is  racking  his  brain 
to  think  of  ways  in  which  to  keep  the  Chinese  out  of  the  coun- 
try, quite  a  different  spirit'  is  manifested  by  the  commissioner  at 


i86  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

Ellis  Island.  He  turns  his  attention  to  efforts  to  make  the 
treatment  of  the  immigrants  by  the  government  as  humanitarian 
and  democratic  as  possible.  Thus  the  personnel  of  the  immigra- 
tion service  often  gives  a  different  first  impression  of  America 
to  different  immigrants. 

But  after  the  immigrant  has  left  Ellis  Island  the  Federal 
government  has  done  almost  nothing  for  him,  though  Commis- 
sioner Howe  says  it  is  going  to  try  to  do  more.  So  far  its  con- 
structive efforts  beyond  the  walls  of  the  immigrant  stations  have 
been  centred  about  a  distributing  bureau,  originally  formed  in 
1907,  and  given  larger  scope  in  1914.  Whereas  the  purpose  of 
this  Federal  bureau,  known  as  the  Division  of  Information, 
Bureau  of  Immigration,  U.S.  Department  of  Labor,  was  to  dis- 
tribute the  new  immigrants  as  far  as  possible  to  the  farm  and 
country  districts,  in  actual  practice  the  bureau  has  turned  out  to 
be  a  great  Federal  employment  agency,  which  in  1915  found 
places  for  11,871  applicants.  This  bureau,  as  yet  hardly  known 
to  most  Americans,  has  distributing  branches  in  18  cities, 
with  sub-branches  in  more  than  60  other  centres,  and  is  fast  be- 
coming an  important  cog  in  the  employment  machinery  of  the 
country.  In  1915  it  had  90,119  applicants  for  positions. 

Through  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  of  the  Department  of 
Labor  the  Federal  government  is  also  keeping  in  touch  with  its 
future  citizens.  This  bureau  has  administrative  authority  over 
all  matters  concerning  the  naturalization  of  aliens.  By  co-op- 
erating with  the  public  schools  of  the  whole  country,  by  provid- 
ing an  outline  course  in  citizenship,  and  by  keeping  record  of  the 
educational  opportunities  of  all  immigrants  it  is  securing  a  more 
systematic  provision  for  all  immigrants  to  learn  English  and  be- 
come citizens. 

Thus  it  is  as  a  reception  committee,  as  an  employment  com- 
mittee and  as  an  educational  committee  that  the  Federal  govern- 
ment exercises  the '  functions  of  leadership  among  the  immi- 
grants. 

Among  the  States,  California  is  at  present  one  of  the  few 
which  is  tackling  the  immigrant  proposition  in  a  big,  constructive 
way,  with  a  permanent  "Immigration  Commission."  Massachu- 
setts, New  York  and  other  states  have  had  "Immigration  Com- 
missions" of  one  or  more  years'  duration,  but,  having  made  their 
investigations  and  reports,  most  of  these  commissions  have  gone 
out  of  existence.  As  a  result  of  the  work  of  her  commission, 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  187 

New  York  State  established  a  Bureau  of  Industries  and  Immi- 
gration in  1910.  Other  states,  such  as  Wisconsin,  have  at  times 
had  immigration  commissions  whose  main  purpose  was  merely 
to  attract  immigrants  to  that  particular  state.  No  attempts  were 
made,  after  getting  the  immigrants  to  their  states,  to  do  anything 
for  them. 

But  as  one  of  the  members  of  the  California  Commission 
said,  "California  has  the  only  good  State  commission."  Ap- 
pointed in  1913  as  the  "Commissions  of  Immigration  and  Hous- 
ing in  California,"  it  consists  of  five  members.  Including  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  bishop,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  the  secretary  of 
the  California  Federation  of  Labor,  and  a  woman,  it  represents 
a  variety  of  religious  and  economic  interests.  The  list  of  con- 
tents of  its  second  annual  report  in  January,  1916,  gives  a  clue  to 
its  activities :  Labor  Camp  Inspection,  Bureau  of  Complaints, 
Immigrant  Education,  Housing,  Constructive  Housing,  Dis- 
tribution of  Immigrants,  Unemployment,  Legislation.  Having 
discovered  that  over  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  labor  camps 
in  California  were  immigrants,  it  attacked,  and  helped  immedi- 
ately to  better,  many  of  the  labor  camp  conditions.  It  has  pub- 
lished leaflets  for  the  education  of  the  immigrant,  drawn  up  plans 
for  model  buildings  for  camps,  and  actually  secured  the  erection 
of  such  buildings  in  construction  camps. 

But  most  interesting  of  all  is  the  plan  it  has  worked  out  for 
solving  the  problem  of  "home  education"  for  immigrant  women. 
Realizing  that  the  public  schools  are  for  the  whole  family,  and 
that  previously  "we  have  reached  out  for  every  member  of  the 
family  except  the  mother,"  the  California  Commission  is  taking 
the  next  logical  step — "  to  educate  the  mother."  Briefly  the  plan 
is  this —  to  have  a  few  well-qualified  women  teachers  go  to  the 
homes  of  the  immigrant  women,  each  teacher  using  a  school  as 
her  headquarters ;  to  visit,  teach  English,  domestic  science,  sew- 
ing and  sanitation,  and  make  the  immigrant  women  feel  the 
personal  interest  of  the  school  and  teacher  in  them.  It  is  felt 
that  if  the  mothers  are  to  learn  American  home  standards  and 
ideals  the  teacher  must  go  to  them.  This  is  the  first  statewide 
attempt  to  use  home  teachers  or  "going-about  women,"  as  the 
American  Indians  have  been  accustomed  to  call  such  teachers ; 
and  while  the  plan  is  still  in  its  beginning  it  bids  fair  to  be  a  far- 
reaching  constructive  effort  to  reach  the  immigrant  home.  Thus 
one  state  is  taking  the  lead  in  an  endeavour  to  meet  the  present 


i88  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

situation  and  to  be  ready  for  any  future  immigration  emergen- 
cies. 

The  need  of  some  such  form  of  state  leadership  is  brought 
home  to  us  again  and  again,  especially  by  such  misfortunes  as 
the  failing  of  four  private  banks  in  immigrant  communities  in 
Chicago  in  the  summer  of  1916.  Without  attempts  by  the  state 
governments  to  protect  the  trusting  immigrants  from  such  il- 
legitimate banking  concerns,  and  to  provide  housing  laws,  such 
as  are  needed  in  New  Jersey  to  enable  local  health  authorities  in 
its  immigrant-laden  industrial  cities  to  protect  them  from  the 
exploitation  of  careless  landlords,  there  is  bound  to  be  little 
State  loyalty  among  our  immigrants.  At  present  California  and 
New  York  seem  to  be  taking  up  the  leadership  in  statewide  work 
for  immigrant  welfare. 

When  we  turn  to  see  what  our  cities  are  doing  for  their  for- 
eign-speaking population  the  outlook  seems  more  encouraging. 
City  after  city  recently  has  taken  cognizance  of  its  duties  in  this 
line  and  is  making  a  serious  effort  to  tackle  its  job.  Being  closer 
to  the  immigrant  than  is  the  State,  and  having  a  more  unified 
problem,  the  city  can  undertake  its  task  more  definitely.  One  of 
the  first  cities  to  undertake  this  work  was  Clevealnd.  There  a 
City  Immigration  Bureau  was  started  as  a  part  of  the  depart- 
ment of  Public  \Velfare.  "The  City  of  Cleveland  maintains  this 
Bureau  for  the  benefit  of  all  immigrants  coming  from  foreign 
countries.  It  assists  those  who  intend  to  settle  here  and  desire 
to  become  good  American  citizens.  It  gives  you  information 
and  advice  entirely  free  with  reference  to  citizenship  papers,  em- 
ployment, and  other  important  matters,"  reads  one  of  its  pub- 
lications. Its  activities  include  depot  work,  where  a  city  immi- 
gration officer  meets  and  assists  newcomers  when  the  tide  of 
immigration  is  high;  divisions  of  employment,  education,  citizen- 
ship, information  and  complaints,  publicity  and  publications.  It 
prints  in  nine  languages  small  guide  books  of  the  city  telling  of 
its  schools,  English  classes,  social  settlements,  banks  and  baths; 
and  prints  a  very  useful  "Citizenship  Manual  for  Cleveland, 
Ohio."  It  has  joined  with  other  organizations  in  a  celebration 
of  Americanization  Day  by  giving  a  public  reception  to  newly 
naturalized  citizens. 

In  ways  such  as  these  cities  as  cities  are  more  and  more  be- 
ginning to  take  an  interest  in  their  own  foreign-speaking  inhab- 
itants. Detroit,  Rochester,  New  York,  Chicago  and  many  other 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  189 

cities  are  arousing  their  civic  conscience  on  this  subject  and  are 
seizing  their  opportunities. 

That  there  is  need  of  cities  of  every  size  the  country  over 
doing  something  along  these  lines  is  well  illustrated  by  the  at- 
titude of  a  small  but  prominent  residential  suburb  of  Chicago. 
For  three  years  it  had  a  constantly  increasing  immigrant  popula- 
tion which  soon  numbered  over  200.  But  the  city  did  nothing 
for  them.  Almost  none  of  them  could  speak  English,  yet  there 
were  no  classes  provided  to  teach  them.  The  only  dealing  the 
city  had  with  these  immigrant  people  was  through  its  police  de- 
partment, which  had  to  make  frequent  visits  to  the  immigrant 
boarding  houses  to  enforce  the  sanitation  and  housing  laws,  and 
to  arrest  those  who  had  imbibed  too  much  of  the  liquor  brought 
in  by  beer  wagons  to  this  "dry"  town.  At  the  city  clerk's  office 
were  no  records  of  the  numbers  or  nationalities  of  the  city's  im- 
migrant population.  In  response  to  a  letter  written  to  him  con- 
cerning these  immigrants,  wTho  happened  to  be  largely  Roumani- 
ans from  Hungary,  the  city  clerk  replied,  speaking  of  them  as 
"Lithuanians,"  though  there  is  as  great  a  racial  difference  be- 
tween these  two  peoples  as  between  any  two  races  in  all  Europe. 
This  shows  merely  one  of  the  ways  in  which  even  in  the  year 
1916  many  cities  have  neglected  to  care  for  their  immigrant 
population. 

While  in  some  places  there  is  good  city  leadership  among  the 
immigrants,  and  total  lack  of  city  leadership  in  other  places, 
there  is  also  much  unfortunate  city  leadership.  This  usually  is 
due  to  the  activities  of  the  politicians  and  the  lack  of  activities 
of  the  police.  Many  of  our  local  politicians  have  been  men  of 
Irish  extraction  whose  respect  for  the  niceties  of  moral  honor 
and  political  sincerity  have  impressed  the  immigrants  more  by 
their  absence  than  by  their  presence.  So  much  so  that  there  is 
a  rather  surprising  but  almost  universal  dislike  of  the  Irish 
among  every  one  of  our  immigrant  nationalities.  An  Italian 
professor  of  immigration  and  economics  in  New  York  University 
questioned  in  his  mind,  "Why  is  it  that  only  the  unscrupulous 
and  not  the  best  citizens  have  been  in  ward  politics  ?  "  It  has 
been  mainly  through  these  petty  politicians  that  many  an  immi- 
grant has  had  his  only  contact  with  American  life  and  citizen- 
ship— and  it  has  not  always  been  helpful. 

Unbelievable,  too,  are  stories  that  are  told  of  the  treatment 
of  the  immigrants  by  the  police.  The  ignorance  of  the  foreigner, 


igo  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

combined  with  the  authority  and  hard-heartedness  on  the  part 
of  the  individual  police,  have  made  their  leadership  hated  and 
contemptible  to  many  of  our  newcomers. 

It  is  time,  therefore,  that  every  city  had  its  municipal  con- 
sciousness aroused  to  providing  helpful,  constructive  leadership 
to  her  immigrant  population,  instead  of  the  repressive,  unscrup- 
ulous leadership  so  often  afforded  by  the  police  and  politicians. 

There  are  two  other  institutions  of  a  "public"  nature  that  are 
making  progress  in  caring  for  our  immigrants.  One  is  the  pub- 
lic library.  In  Homestead,  Pennsylvania,  where  one  is  in  the 
heart  of  the  immigrant  industrial  population,  the  Carnegie  Li- 
brary stands  on  a  prominent  terrace  overlooking  the  city.  Here 
a  splendid  attempt  is  being  made  to  have  the  library  useful  to 
the  immigrant  population  as  well  as  to  the  native  Americans.  It 
provides  a  night  school  class  in  the  English  language,  and  some- 
times gives  outdoor  picture  shows  in  the  "foreign"  ward.  So 
far  back  as  1912  it  reported  books  in  "Hungarian,  Slovak,  Bo- 
hemian, Lithuanian,  Polish,  German,  French  and  Italian";  that 
"two-thirds  of  the  children  that  use  Juvenile  room  are  of  for- 
eign birth" ;  that  eleven  out  of  forty-one  events  in  the  Music 
Hall  were  given  by  foreigners ;  and  that  "among  the  literary  and 
study  clubs  are  the  Slovak  American  Literary  Club  with  ninety 
or  more  members,  the  Hungarian  Self  Culture  Society  of  equal 
size,  the  Greek  Catholic  Dramatic  Club  with  a  membership  of 
twenty-five,  and  the  Slavok  Citizens  Club  with  forty  members." 
Its  splendid  equipment  as  a  social  centre  building  makes  possible 
many  of  its  activities,  which  are  suggestive  of  what  any  library 
may  attempt 

The  Portland,  Oregon,  Public  Library  had  adopted  an  inter- 
esting method  of  reaching  the  immigrant  population.  Each 
month  it  secures  a  list  of  the  men  who  have  taken  out  their  "first 
papers"  for  citizenship,  and  sends  to  each  of  them  a  personal 
letter  telling  the  location  of  the  library,  offering  to  aid  them 
with  books  on  "citizenship,"  and  mentioning  that  magazines, 
papers,  and  books  in  many  foreign  languages  are  to  be  found 
there. 

At  Seattle  one  of  the  librarians  has  gone  in  person  to  many 
of  the  night  school  classes  to  invite  the  men  to  the  library.  Lists 
of  books  in  their  language  were  sent  to  various  foreign  societies, 
a  list  of  "Graded  Readings"  from  the  simpler  to  the  higher 
forms  of  English  literature,  and  a  list  of  books  of  which  the  li- 
brary contains  both  an  English  and  a  foreign  translation  have 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  igi 

been  made.  While  sometimes  it  is  difficult  to  know  what  booki 
to  secure  in  these  foreign  languages,  as  in  the  case  of  some 
Croatian  books  asked  for  by  a  Croatian  society,  "to  educate  their 
people"  in  Seattle,  and  never  used  except  once  by  the  members 
of  the  society  itself,  yet  public  libraries  can  often  supplement 
the  work  of  other  organizations  in  a  way  very  helpful  to  the  im- 
migrant. 

The  Webster  Branch  of  the  New  York  City  Public  Library 
devotes  one  entire  floor  of  its  three-story  building  to  a  Bohe- 
mian department.  Here,  under  a  capable  Bohemian  librarian, 
it  has  7,000  Bohemian  volumes,  a  great  variety  of  Bohemian 
magazines,  and  newspapers,  and  a  collection  of  Bohemian  music. 
At  times  it  gives  exhibitions  of  Bohemian  art  and  embroidery, 
while  a  committee  of  Bohemians  helps  in  the  selection  of  the 
books.  Such  a  national  department  is  possible  only  in  the 
larger  cities  where  one  can  find  large  colonies  of  one  nationality 
in  one  locality,  but  it  is  very  suggestive  of  the  educational  leader- 
ship the  libraries  are  trying  to  afford. 

Last  but  not  least  of  public  factors  in  immigrant  leadership 
— in  fact  the  most  important  and  most  indispensable  factor  in 
the  unification  of  all  our  immigrant  population — is  the  public 
school.  Wre  take  its  work  so  much  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
we  often  fail  to  grasp  the  tremendous  influence  it  has  in  mould- 
ing "all  comers"  into  potential  Americans.  It  in  itself  is  largely 
the  reason  that  English  eventually  supplants  all  the  mother 
tongues  of  Europe  in  the  life  of  her  children  in  America.  In 
many  of  the  New  York  City  schools  one  looks  in  vain  for  a 
child  whose  American  ancestry  is  even  one  generation  old.  At 
one  school  90  per  cent  of  the  children  are  Italians ;  at  another, 
one  can  go  into  a  class  where  Bohemians  and  Hungarians  pre- 
dominate, and  only  a  smattering  of  Irish  and  English  are  to  be 
found.  However,  in  the  school  it  is  hard  to  differentiate  be- 
tween the  children.  They  are  all  alike,  just  "kids,"  whether  they 
are  Bohemian  or  Hungarian,  Italian,  or  Russian.  The  principal 
of  a  school  will  often  say  that  he  can  not  tell  which  nationality 
is  the  brighter  for  "They  are  all  alike — just  boys;  some  good, 
some  dull." 

It  is  really  inspiring  to  have  an  opportunity  to  visit  one  of 
these  big  city  schools  to  see  with  what  orderliness  and  efficiency 
the  whole  day  goes  on,  the  confidence  with  which  the  teachers 
do  their  work,  and  the  healthy  American  training  they  give  the 


192  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

children.  The  drill  in  the  use  of  English  grammar  and  the  class 
in  American  history  are  potent  factors  in  the  day's  work.  The 
influence  of  the  schools  is  largely  the  result  of  their  steady, 
daily,  yearly  teaching  and  atmosphere.  They  turn  out  Amer- 
icans, who  in  turn  help  to  make  their  homes  American  in  spirit, 
and  thus  the  school  influence  pervades  the  community. 

In  addition  to  this  regular  school  work,  there  are  public 
schools,  such  as  the  one  with  the  Gary  system  in  The  Bronx, 
New  York  City,  which  take  some  active  interest  in  the  com- 
munity and  endeavour  to  make  the  school  the  centre  of  interest, 
entertainment,  education  and  progress  for  a  whole  neighbor- 
hood. Playgrounds,  gardens,  joint  efforts  to  eliminate  neigh- 
borhood gangs  of  "rowdies,"  club  meetings,  lectures  and  con- 
certs have  made  this  school,  under  the  leadership  of  an  Italian 
principal,  the  biggest  factor  in  a  great  Italian  section  of  the  city. 

The  great  spread  of  the  movement  for  teaching  English  to 
the  immigrants  has  brought  the  schools  new  opportunities.  In 
Paterson,  in  the  winter  of  1915-16  there  were  twelve  classes  held 
four  nights  a  week  for  sixteen  weeks  with  over  375  pupils,  men 
and  women.  Here  was  a  personal  contact  of  the  schools  with  the 
immigrants,  of  the  teachers  with  the  immigrants.  In  Rochester 
immigrant  training  was  begun  and  carried  on  by  the  Board  of 
Education,  which  established  a  special  department  of  immigrant 
education.  During  the  past  year  it  has  had  2,500  on  its  lists  for 
these  classes.  Los  Angeles  has  awakened  to  its  possibilities  and 
her  schools  are  very  active  in  their  work  of  teaching  English. 

That  there  has  been  need  of  an  awakening  of  this  kind  by 
school  boards  is  evidenced  by  the  refusal  of  a  school  board  in  a 
West  Virginia  town  to  let  one  of  its  rooms  be  used  by  an  Amer- 
ican woman  to  teach  English  at  night,  though  the  schools  were 
not  themselves  doing  any  work  of  this  kind.  Again,  two  years 
ago,  some  Poles  in  a  New  Jersey  city  offered  to  secure  and  pay 
for  a  teacher  of  English  if  the  school  board  would  only  let  them 
use  a  room  at  night.  But  the  board  refused  because  of  the  extra 
cost  for  light,  heat  and  janitor  service. 

On  the  whole,  however,  the  public  schools  are  doing  more  for 
the  advancement  of  the  immigrant  population  than  any  other 
agency  in  the  country.  They  are  effective  leaders. 

Private  Efforts 

The  increase  on  the  part  of  large  business  concerns  of  the 
general  "welfare"  work  among  their  employes,  and  the  aroused 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  193 

interest  in  the  immigrants  due  to  the  "hyphen"  hysteria  of  the 
last  year  have  resulted  in  fresh  activity  by  business  houses  in 
behalf  of  their  immigrant  employees.  In  Detroit  the  Board  of 
Commerce  in  August  and  September  of  1915  conducted  a  large 
campaign  of  "Americanization"  which  resulted  in  an  increase  in 
the  night  school  registration  of  153  per  cent.  Many  unique 
methods  were  put  into  use,  such  as  inserting  slips  about  the  night 
schools  in  the  pay  envelopes  of  the  men,  providing  rooms  in  the 
shops  for  classes  in  English,  and  urging  the  great  industries  of 
the  city  to  give  a  preference  in  promoting  workmen  to  those 
who  had  become  citizens.  Thus  the  immigrant  workmen  have 
come  to  feel  that  "big  business"  has  some  interest  in  them  and  is 
trying  to  lead  them  somewhere. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  recently  established  a  young  Ital- 
ian, a  graduate  of  Yale  University,  at  the  head  of  work  among 
the  10,000  Italian  men  employed  on  their  lines.  He  has  now  3,000 
Italians  in  educational  work  by  means  of  correspondence  les- 
sons ;  he  has  prepared  an  Italian-English  Naturalization  booklet ; 
he  seeks  to  have  them  become  citizens;  advises  with  them  on 
investing  their  earnings,  and  goes  among  them  to  try  and  coun- 
teract the  effect  of  occasional  I.  W.  W.  agitators  and  settle  labor 
misunderstandings. 

In  such  ways  "big  business"  is  beginning  to  have  more  a 
place  of  leadership  as  it  takes  a  keener  interest  in  the  immigrant 
employees  as  men,  rather  than  as  mere  business  units. 

Coming  down  a  little  closer  to  the  immigrant  himself,  we  find 
that  among  workmen  the  labor  unions  have  since  1900  become 
more  and  more  important.  As  the  American  Federation  of  La- 
bor has  no  statistics  in  regard  to  the  nationality  of  the  member- 
ship in  the  organizations  affiliated  with  it,  it  is  difficult  to  know 
exactly  how  strong  its  influence  is  among  the  immigrant  nation- 
alities. In  the  anthracite  region  of  Pennsylvania  the  miners  are 
well  organized  and  nearly  all  the  men  are  union  members.  In 
some  of  these  coal  mining  districts  the  union  "locals"  are  or- 
ganized largely  along  national  lines — a  Ruthenian  local,  a  Polish 
local,  a  Slovak  local — but  this  is  not  true  as  a  general  rule 
throughout  the  country.  The  feature  of  the  unions  and  other 
labor  organizations  which  has  made  them  factors  in  welding 
together  the  interests  of  members  with  varying  European  ances- 
try has  been  that  in  these  unions  all  have  been  brought  together 


194  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

on  the  common  ground  of  an  American  need  for  better  working 
and  living  conditions. 

Yet  much  of  the  unskilled  labor  of  the  country,  which  is 
largely  composed  of  the  immigrants,  is  altogether  unorganized. 
Thus  in  Passaic,  New  Jersey,  there  is  practically  no  labar  or- 
ganization, for  a  large  percentage  of  its  industrial  workers  are 
unskilled.  The  labor  unions,  except  in  certain  industries,  have 
not  been  in  as  close  touch  with  the  immigrants  as*  one  would 
have  expected.  One  reason  seems  to  be  that  union  organization 
has  been  rather  among  skilled  labor  than  among  the  unskilled, 
while  the  immigrants  largely  make  up  our  unskilled  labor  forces. 
Another  reason  has  been  the  occasional  race  discrimination 
shown  by  the  unions  against  the  Italians,  as  well  as  against  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese.  This  has  caused  friction  between  the  im- 
migrants and  the  unions. 

In  teaching  the  English  language  and  in  arousing  the  desire 
for  a  better  economic  condition  among  its  immigrant  members 
the  labor  union  has  exercised  an  educational  leadership  over 
our  immigrant  population.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  its  influence  has 
been  as  great  as  its  numbers  would  lead  one  to  suspect. 

When  we  turn  from  business  and  labor  to  the  field  of  re- 
ligion we  find  that  the  American  churches  have  begun  to  realize 
the  demands  upon  them  of  the  immigrant  population.  The  im- 
migrant may  feel  this  at  Ellis  Island,  where  the  churches  vie 
with  the  government  in  giving  the  newcomers  their  first  contact 
with  America.  There  are  now  at  the  Island  twenty-five  mission- 
aries and  workers  representing  some  thirteen  evangelical  de- 
nominations, distributing  literature,  investigating,  individual  cases 
and  rendering  assistance  to  many  a  bewildered  recent  arrival. 

Nearly  all  the  great  Protestant  church  bodies  have  a  depart- 
ment for  the  supervision  of  immigrant  work.  Through  pastors, 
either  native  or  foreign  born,  who  speak  both  English  and  some 
immigrant  tongue,  through  English  lessons,  clubs  and  settlements 
they  are  attempting  to  meet  the  situation.  Since  they  have  taken 
up  this  work  so  recently  they  have  not  as  yet  had  a  very  great 
influence  on  our  immigrant  population  as  a  whole.  But  as  the 
years  go  by  their  increasing  efforts  and  their  broader  plans  are 
sure  to  exert  a  constantly  growing  influence  on  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  our  immigrant  population. 

One  of  the  most  active  forces  at  work  among  our  "foreign- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  195 

crs"  is  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  It  has  an  immigration  secretary  in  many 
of  our  large  cities.  Its  labors  have  been  largely  of  two  kinds — 
depot  work,  meeting  immigrants  at  railroad  stations  in  order  to 
direct  them  safely  to  their  destinations;  and  classes  in  teaching 
English.  During  these  last  two  years,  due  to  the  decrease  in  im- 
migration, their  depot  work  has  practically  ceased,  while  the 
need  for  English  classes  has  also  somewhat  abated.  But  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  continues  to  serve  the  immigrants  through  lectures, 
moving  pictures,  and  other  means  of  education. 

One  interesting  phase  of  their  work  has  been  the  way  in 
which  they  have  aroused  interest  among  college  men  in  such 
work.  This  collegiate  touch  with  the  immigrant  has  been  largely 
through  English  classes.  In  1915-1916,  after  seven  years,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  had  secured  the  assistance  of  4,000  workers  in  250 
colleges,  with  100,000  foreigners  directly  affected.  This  work  has 
been  of  inestimable  value. 

The  Y.  W.  C.  A.  carries  on  its  immigration  work  through 
what  it  calls  "The  International  Institutes."  It  is  doing  more 
for  our  immigrant  women  than  any  other  one  organization — 
teaching  English,  having  girls'  clubs,  doing  friendly  visiting.  In 
New  York  City  it  has  one  club  of  sixty  Greek  girls,  a  rather 
unique  organization  because  until  lately  there  have  been  so  few 
Greek  girls  in  this  country.  In  Los  Angeles  they  use  as  head- 
quarters a  house  in  the  Russian  section  of  the  city  where  they 
have  club  meetings,  sewing  classes  and  English  classes.  In  such 
ways  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  is  endeavouring  to  care  for  those  most 
neglected  of  all  our  immigrant  population — the  women  and 
mothers. 

There  are  numerous  other  efforts  put  forth  on  behalf  of  the 
immigrants  by  private  organizations.  In  Chicago  is  the  Immi- 
grants' Protective  League  under  the  efficient  management  of 
Miss  Grace  Abbott.  As  you  enter  its  office  you  find  a  sign  of 
information  in  ten  languages;  when  you  reach  the  office  you  dis- 
cover that  they  have  seven  or  eight  investigators  and  workers 
of  as  many  different  nationalities.  A  purely  voluntary  organiza- 
tion, it  renders  station  help,  looks  up  individual  cases  of  need 
and  every  year  tries  to  study  some  particular  phase  of  the  im- 
migration situation  in  Chicago.  Thus  in  early  1916,  after  a  study 
of  the  conditions  among  the  Greek  bootblacks,  the  attention  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  called  to  their  un- 
fortunate conditions  and  an  effort  made  to  unionize  them. 


196  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

Later  a  study  was  made  of  the  cases  of  those  who  had  dropped 
out  of  the  night  school  English  classes,  in  order  that  suggestions 
might  be  made  to  the  Board  of  Education  for  stopping  this  leak- 
age. 

The  National  Americanization  Committee  of  New  York  City, 
with  Miss  Frances  Kellor  at  its  head,  has  as  its  purpose  the 
Americanization  of  the  immigrants.  It  endeavors  to  be  a 
standardizing  agency,  or  clearing  house  of  information,  for  all 
work  among  immigrants.  When  any  one  wants  to  know  how  to 
go  about  solving  some  immigrant  community  problem  this  Com- 
mittee will  furnish  information  as  to  how  to  do  it,  and  some- 
times furnish  practical  assistance  in  doing  it  as  well.  Thus  they 
sent  down  a  doctor  to  Hopewell,  Virginia,  to  assist  in  the  work 
there  at  the  time  of  the  great  fire  in  the  spring  of  1916.  Besides 
the  work  of  furthering  classes  in  English  and  civics,  co-operating 
with  Chambers  of  Commerce  (as  they  did  in  the  recent  Detroit 
campaign),  and  working  through  national  societies  such  as  the 
Polish  National  Alliance,  they  are  endeavouring  to  arouse  inter- 
est among  American  people  in  the  immigrant  situation. 

To  meet  the  need  expressed  by  a  member  of  the  California 
Immigration  Commission,  who  said,  "I  think  the  American  peo- 
ple need  to  be  awakened  on  this  subject,"  the  Americanization 
Committee,  in  conjunction  with  "The  Committee  for  immigrants 
in  America,"  publishes  quarterly  The  Immigrants  in  America 
Review*  holds  conferences  and  is  carrying  on  an  extensive  ed- 
ucational campaign  throughout  the  whole  country. 

Yet  again  such  organizations  as  the  Colonial  Dames,  which 
prints  a  "Primer  of  Civics"  in  three  or  four  immigrant  lan- 
guages ;  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  with  its  pamphlet, 
"Information  for  Immigrants  concerning  the  United  States"; 
the  Naturalization  Education  Company  of  Pittsburg  with  its 
"Naturalization  Instructions"  in  nine  languages,  and  many  other 
societies  are  coming  forward  with  a  new  interest  in  our  immi- 
grant population. 

Here  and  there  our  American  newspapers  are  taking  cog- 
nizance of  the  opportunity  for  them  to  serve  our  immigrant 
people.  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  and  the  Pittsburg  Post 
every  day  have  a  "Cosmopolitan"  page  on  which  news  of  interest 
to  the  different  nationalities  of  these  cities  is  given.  In  this  way 
the  American  community  has  a  fresh  chance  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  thought  and  life  of  the  immigrant  Americans, 

*  Six   issues    were   published,    beginning  January,    '915.      [Editor]. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  197 

while  the  immigrants  themselves  feel  that  they  are  at  last  re- 
ceiving some  of  the  notice  they  deserve.  By  such  means  as  this, 
or  by  columns  in  various  foreign  languages  such  as  the  Italian 
column  of  one  of  the  New  York  City  daily  papers,  the  Amer- 
ican press  is  beginning  to  get  in  touch  with  the  immigrant  peo- 
ple. 

Along  with  the  work  of  many  settlements  and  other  organ- 
izations the  country  over,  these  are  some  of  the  efforts,  both 
public  and  private,  at  American  leadership  of  the  immigrant. 
While  so  many  of  these  attempts  at  American  leadership  ap- 
proach the  immigrants  through  the  idea  of  "Americanizing" 
them,  it  must  be  remembered,  as  Miss  Balch  says,  that  you  can- 
not force  Americanization  on  the  immigrants.  Helpful  as  all 
these  efforts  are,  the  ones  which  have  in  them  the  added  fea- 
ture of  personal,  individual  interest  and  sympathy  with  the  in- 
dividual immigrant  are  the  ones  whose  leadership  is  most  effec- 
tive, and  whose  efforts  are  bound  to  be  the  most  useful. 

Training  For  Protestant  Religious  Leadership 

The  older  type  of  leader  holds  his  own  among  the  adult  and 
more  ignorant  immigrants,  but  among  the  younger  people  leaders 
with  new  and  progressive  ideas  are  coming  into  prominence. 
American  ideals  of  democracy,  freedom  and  education,  and 
American  labor  conditions  are  casting  the  immigrant's  mind  in 
new  moulds  into  which  the  old  country  leaders  do  not  fit.  More 
and  more  each  nationality  is  demanding  in  its  leaders  intelli- 
gence, education  and  acquaintance  with  social  conditions. 

What  sort  of  leaders  has  the  Protestant  church  in  America 
furnished  to  our  immigrants?  Are  they  of  the  old  order  or  the 
new?  This  is  an  important  consideration,  for  Prof.  Steiner  has 
well  said,  "The  one  institution  in  America  most  gravely  con- 
cerned with  the  coming  and  staying  of  the  immigrant  is  the  Prot- 
estant church."  The  leadership  which  the  Protestant  church 
furnishes  will  in  large  measure  affect  the  future  of  our  country. 
If  it  is  wise,  strong,  and  constructive  these  immigrants,  who  are 
the  future  Americans,  will  accept  and  practise  the  principles  of 
Christ ;  if  it  is  weak,  narrow  and  unintelligent,  spiritual  truth 
will  not  find  believers  among  our  next  generation. 

The  strength  of  the  Protestant  church  leadership  so  far  pro- 
vided the  immigrants  has  lain  in  the  personalities  of  certain  in- 
dividual pastors.  Where  men  of  forceful  character  have  gone 


ig8  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

into  an  immigrant  community,  their  influence  has  been  great 
Such  is  an  Italian  pastor  in  New  York  City  of  whom  an  Amer- 
ican minister  said  that  he  was  perhaps  the  outstanding  leader 
among  the  Italians  of  his  neighbourhood.  Born  to  command, 
unafraid  of  any  kind  of  opposition  (and  he  has  encountered 
every  kind),  he  is  full  of  common  sense  and  personal  magnet- 
ism. Still  another  example  is  a  Hungarian  Protestant  pastor  in 
one  of  Ohio's  industrial  cities,  who  because  of  his  powerful  per- 
sonality has  made  himself  almost  a  "pope"  among  his  people. 
These  men  are  men  of  combined  character  and  education. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  weakness  of  Protestant  church  work 
among  the  immigrants  has  usually  been  in  the  lack  of  training 
of  its  pastors.  In  their  anxiety  to  send  workers  among  the  for- 
eign population  of  the  country  the  churches  have  sometimes 
manned  fields  with  foreign-speaking  pastors  poorly  educated,  or 
poorly  trained  in  an  understanding  of  American  Protestant 
Christianity.  Ex-Roman  Catholic  priests,  and  men  whose  meagre 
education  prevented  them  from  grasping  the  problems  they  had 
to  face,  have  thus  oftimes  retarded  the  spread  of  American 
evangelical  Christianity  among  the  immigrants.  These  men  must 
necessarily  fall  by  the  wayside  when  they  face  the  intelligent, 
progressive  minds  of  the  new  leaders  among  the  younger  immi- 
grant generation,  with  all  their  knowledge  of  social  welfare  and 
unrest. 

Henceforth  Protestant  religious  leaders  must  be  well  trained 
for  dealing  with  our  immigrant  situation.  Leaders  are  born,  not 
made,  since  the  pre-eminent  qualification  for  leadership  is  per- 
sonality; and  you  cannot  make  personality;  like  Topsy,  "it  just 
grows."  But  men  can  be  developed  to  assume  positions  of  lead- 
ership by  being  trained  to  see  the  direction  in  which  the  paths 
of  progress  lead.  By  having  these  paths  pointed  out,  and  by 
learning  how  to  lead  their  people  into  them,  men  may  become 
successful  in  arousing  a  response  from  people  of  their  own  na- 
tionality. It  is  in  such  ways  that  the  qualities  of  leadership 
must  be  developed  among  those  who  are  to  be  engaged  in  Prot- 
estant religious  work  among  the  foreign-speaking  people  of  the 
United  States. 

In  doing  this  work  one  of  three  types  of  people  is  required — 
either  a  foreign-born  pastor  who  knows  English  (including  in 
this  group  those  of  foreign  blood  born  in  America),  or  an 
American,  native  by  birth  and  blood,  who  knows  a  foreign 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  199 

tongue  or  perhaps  is  associated  with  a  foreign-speaking  worker. 
At  present  both  types  of  leader  is  needed. 

Of  course  the  work  done  in  the  foreign  languages  among  our 
immigrant  people  is,  and  always  must  be,  a  transitional  work. 
It  will  be  necessary  only  so  long  as  the  arrival  of  new  immi- 
grants keeps  up.  If  immigration  were  absolutely  prohibited  from 
now  on,  after  some  twenty-five  years  all  work  among  our  pop- 
ulation of  foreign  blood  could  be  carried  on  in  English,  for  all 
would  understand  English,  and  the  older  generation  of  foreign- 
born  would  have  passed  off  the  scene  of  action.  But  now,  and 
until  some  twenty-five  years  after  the  last  immigrant  has  reached 
our  shores,  the  use  of  the  native  tongue  in  work  among  our  new 
citizens  will  be  necessary. 

There  is  question  as  to  the  type  of  worker  best  suited  to  this 
task.  The  foreign-born  worker  has  the  advantage  of  an  intel- 
ligent knowledge  of  the  language  and  customs  of  his  own  people, 
and  is  best  prepared  to  understand  them.  Yet  he  often  has  but 
a  general  knowledge  of  English,  and  is  apt  to  retain  a  foreign 
accent  all  his  life.  Whereas  he  is  best  suited  to  reach  the  adult 
immigrants  he  is  sometimes  not  so  successful  among  the  children, 
who,  educated  in  our  public  schools,  are  apt  to  think  themselves 
better  than  the  man  who  cannot  speak  English  without  an  ac- 
cent. Again,  he  does  not  always  fully  understand  American 
ideals  or  American  evangelical  Christianity. 

A  native-born  American  has  the  advantage  of  understanding 
clearly  our  language,  customs,  and  ideas,  and  with  the  children 
he  does  not  need  to  know  any  language  except  English.  But 
when  he  comes  to  dealing  with  the  parents,  he  is  under  a  handi- 
cap unless  he  knows  their  language.  Even  then  he  is  apt  always 
to  have  an  incorrect  accent  in  speaking  the  foreign  tongue. 

The  third  type  is  composed  of  those  who,  though  born  or  en- 
tirely educated  in  America,  are  yet  the  sons  of  immigrants. 
Sometimes  such  men  combine  both  the  good  qualities  of  the  other 
two  types ;  sometimes  they  have  the  weaknesses  of  both.  In  the 
one  case  they  are  the  best  possible  men  to  meet  the  situation; 
in  the  other  case  they  need  much  training  to  insure  their  useful- 
ness. Such,  are  the  Italian  or  Ruthenian  young  men  brought  up 
in  Italian  or  Ruthenian  neighborhoods,  where  only  Italian  or 
Ruthenian  is  spoken  at  home  or  on  the  streets,  and  whose 
American  schooling  has  gone  no  further  than  the  eighth  grade. 
They  will  often  speak  both  English  and  their  mother  tongue  in- 


200  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

correctly  because  of  their  environment,  where  there  has  been 
little  opportunity  to  hear  either  language  well  spoken.  In  con- 
sequence, they  are  ill  equipped  for  positions  of  leadership  among 
either  Italians,  Ruthenians  or  Americans. 

The  theological  training  which  one  needs  for  effective  work 
among  the  immigrants  is  entirely  subordinate  to  the  prime  re- 
quisite of  personal  character.  This  must  be  the  first  and  neces- 
sary qualification.  In  the  past  twenty  years,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  there  have  been  so  many  failures  in  this  respect 
that  the  churches  must  give  great  attention  to  this  point.  Par- 
ticular care  should  be  taken  in  the  case  of  men  who  seek  church 
work  as  ex-Catholic  priests  converted  to  Protestantism.  There 
have  been  cases  where  men  with  bad  records  in  the  Roman 
church  have  become  apparently  converted  to  Protestantism ;  the 
Protestants  have  used  their  voices  to  raise  thanksgivings  to 
Heaven  for  these  conversions,  without  using  their  eyes  and  ears 
to  search  out  the  truth  of  the  facts  in  every  case.  The  existence 
of  even  a  few  such  instances  is  sufficient  to  emphasize  the  neces- 
sity for  Christlike  character  on  the  part  of  all  immigrant  religious 
workers. 

Then,  too,  in  Europe  even  Protestantism  and  its  ministers 
differ  from  Protestantism  and  its  ministers  in  America.  In  Hun- 
gary, where  there  are  several  million  Protestants,  Protestantism 
has  become  to  a  large  extent  a  mere  form,  empty  of  the  meaning 
of  daily  brotherhood.  American  Protestants  must  remember  this 
in  dealing  with  some  of  the  Slovak  and  Magyar  Protestants  of 
our  immigrant  population,  who  with  their  old  country  ways  have 
not  thought  drinking  and  dancing  inconsistent  accompaniments 

of  church  socials. 

\ 

Foreign-speaking  Immigrant  Religious  Leaders 

What  opportunities  are  at  present  offered  for  the  training  of 
these  men  of  foreign  birth  or  parentage  who  wish  to  give  them- 
selves to  religious  work  among  our  Southern  European  immi- 
grant population? 

The  Congregational  Church  has  a  Slavic  department  at  Ober- 
lin  Theological  Seminary,  Oberlin,  Ohio.  Here,  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  Bohemian  professor,  there  were  in  the  year  1915- 
1916  four  Bohemian  and  four  Slovak  students  for  the  ministry. 
Students  are  accepted  who  have  had  a  high  school  course  or  its 
equivalent,  and  a  three  year  theological  course  is  given  them. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  201 

The  instruction  is  partly  in  English,  partly  in  Bohemian,  in  order 
that  the  men  may  be  well  trained  in  each  language.  While  the 
prerequisities  of  this  course  are  not  high,  the  work  it  does  is 
thorough,  and  the  contact  of  the  Slavic  students  with  the  Amer- 
ican college  and  seminary  students  is  advantageous. 

At  Berea,  Ohio,  the  Methodist  Church  has  also  a  Slavic  de- 
partment in  the  Baldwin-Wallace  College  and  Nast  Theological 
Seminary,  in  which  during  the  winter  of  1915-16  there  were 
over  twenty  immigrant  students — most  of  whom  were  Bohe- 
mians and  Slovaks.  As  at  Oherlin,  this  department  is  under  the 
supervision  of  a  Slavic  professor.  A  high  school  course,  or  its 
equivalent,  is  required  of  these  Slavic  students  if  they  are  to 
take  the  full  theological  course  of  three  years.  The  fact  that 
this  seminary  is  composed  of  students  largely  for  the  German 
ministry  makes  the  atmosphere  with  which  the  Slavic  students 
are  surrounded  less  definitely  American  than  at  such  an  institu- 
tion as  Oberlin. 

The  Baptists  have  approached  the  question  of  religious  train- 
ing more  along  the  line  of  nationality.  Thus  in  Brooklyn  they 
have  for  the  training  of  Italian  Baptist  ministers  the  Italian 
department  of  Colgate  Theological  Seminary.  In  1915-16  the 
Italian  professor  in  charge  had  twelve  students  who  lived  in  the 
mission  house  of  an  Italian  Baptist  church.  The  students  thus 
had  no  contact  with  American  student  life.  The  course  is  a 
three-year  one,  along  theological  lines,  no  especial  educational 
equipment  being  demanded  a^  a  prerequisite  of  entrance.  Three 
Italian  ministers  and  one  American  woman  compose  the  faculty. 

In  Cleveland  the  Baptists  have  a  separate  Hungarian  training 
school,  where  in  1915-16  there  were  ten  students  under  the  in- 
struction of  two  Hungarian  ministers  and  one  American  woman. 
A  four  year  course  is  given,  the  classes  meeting  in  the  rear  room 
of  the  Hungarian  church.  The  preparation  of  most  of  these  stu- 
dents previous  to  beginning  their  course  had -been  only  equivalent 
to  a  grade  school  education. 

In  Chicago  is  the  Slavic  Baptist  Training  School.  Here,  un- 
der a  Polish  and  a  Bohemian  pastor,  about  twenty  Polish,  Ru- 
thenian,  Bohemian  and  Slovak  young  men  have  begun  courses 
varying  in  length  from  three  to  six  years.  The  dormitories  and 
classrooms  are  simply  rooms  in  the  Bohemian  Baptist  church. 
The  students  previous  to  entering  this  school  have  had  but  little 
education. 


202  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

Each  of  these  Baptist  schools  is  small,  each  has  meagre 
equipment  in  the  line  of  dormitory  and  class  room  facilities.  In 
each  the  lack  of  a  sufficient  faculty,  of  touch  with  American  life, 
of  a  thorough  educational  training  is  evident.  Yet  each  is  striv- 
ing to  grow  in  efficiency  and  ability  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
situation. 

At  Bloomfield,  New  Jersey,  and  at  Dubuque,  Iowa,  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  has  institutions  which  now  provide  academy, 
college,  and  theological  seminary  training  for  students  of  many 
immigrant  nationalities.  Originally  founded  to  train  men  for 
work  among  our  German  speaking  immigrants,  in  response  to 
the  demand  of  the  new  immigration,  these  schools  have  become 
cosmopolitan  institutions.  In  equipment  and  size  they  outstrip 
the  provision  made  by  any  other  denomination  for  its  immigrant 
workers.  Each  has  buildings  and  campus  of  its  own,  and  a  large 
faculty.  Thus  Bloomfield  Theological  Seminary  in  1915-16  had 
some  ninety  students  distributed  about  as  follows :  twenty-five 
Hungarians,  sixteen  Italians,  fifteen  Russians,  fifteen  Ruthenians, 
ten  Germans,  seven  Poles,  one  American,  and  one  Roumanian 
Jew.  The  Hungarians,  Italians,  Ruthenians,  Russians,  Germans 
and  Poles  each  have  a  professor  who  teaches  their  native  lan- 
guage, literature  and  history,  and  has  general  charge  of  the  stu- 
dents of  his  own  nationality. 

Leadership  of  the  New  America;  racial  and  religious,  p.  257  seq.  New 
York,  George  H.  Doran  Co.,  1916. 


SCHOOLS 

DEMOCRACY   AND   EDUCATION 

JOHN  DEWEY 
EDUCATOR,  PHILOSOPHER,  WORLD-THINKER 

It  is  fatal  for  a  democracy  to  permit  the  formation  of  fixed 
classes.  Differences  of  wealth,  the  existence  of  large  masses  of 
unskilled  laborers,  contempt  for  work  with  the  hands,  inability 
to  secure  the  training  which  enables  one  to  forge  ahead  in  life, 
all  operate  to  produce  classes,  and  to  widen  the  gulf  between 
them.  Statesmen  and  legislation  can  do  something  to  combat 
these  evil  forces.  Wise  philanthropy  can  do  something.  But 
the  only  fundamental  agency  for  good  is  the  public  school  system. 
Every  American  is  proud  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the 
past  in  fostering  among  very  diverse  elements  of  population  a 
spirit  of  unity  and  of  brotherhood  so  that  the  sense  of  common 
interests  and  aims  has  prevailed  over  the  strong  forces  working 
to  divide  our  people  into  classes.  The  increasing  complexity  of 
our  life,  with  the  great  accumulation  of  wealth  at  one  social 
extreme  and  the  condition  of  almost  dire  necessity  at  the  other 
makes  the  task  of  democracy  constantly  more  difficult.  The  days 
are  rapidly  passing  when  the  simple  provision  of  a  school  system 
in  which  all  individuals  mingle  is  enough  to  meet  the  need.  The 
subject-matter  and  the  methods  of  teaching  must  be  positively 
and  aggressively  adapted  to  the  end. 

There  must  not  be  one  system  for  the  children  of  parents 
who  have  more  leisure  and  another  for  the  children  of  those  who 
are  wage-earners.  The  physical  separation  forced  by  such  a 
scheme,  while  unfavorable  to  the  development  of  a  proper  mutual 
sympathy,  is  the  least  of  its  evils.  Worse  is  the  fact  that  the 
over  bookish  education  for  some  and  the  over  "practical"  educa- 
tion for  others  brings  about  a  division  of  mental  and  moral  hab- 
its, ideals,  and  outlook. 

The  academic  education  turns  out  future  citizens  with  no 
sympathy  for  work  done  with  the  hands,  and  with  absolutely 
no  training  for  understanding  the  most  lerious  of  present  day 


204  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

social  and  political  difficulties.  The  trade  training  will  turn  out 
future  workers  who  may  have  greater  immediate  skill  than 
they  would  have  had  without  their  training,  but  who  have  no  en- 
largement of  mind,  no  insight  into  the  scientific  and  social  sig- 
nificance of  the  work  they  do,  no  education  which  assists  them  in 
finding  their  way  on  or  in  making  their  own  adjustments.  A 
division  of  the  public  school  system  into  one  part  which  pursues 
traditional  methods,  with  incidental  improvements,  and  another 
which  deals  with  those  who  are  to  go  into  manual  labor  means 
a  plan  of  social  predestination  totally  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  a 
democracy. 

The  democracy  which  proclaims  equality  of  opportunity  as 
its  ideal  requires  an  education  in  which  learning  and  social  ap- 
plication, ideas  and  practice,  work  and  recognition  of  the  mean- 
ing of  what  is  done,  are  united  from  the  beginning  and  for  all. 
Such  schools — the  Schools  of  Tomorrow — are  rapidly  coming 
into  being  in  large  numbers,  and  are  showing  how  the  ideal  of 
equal  opportunity  for  all  is  to  be  transmitted  into  reality. 

Schools  of  Tomorrow,  pp.  313-16.     New  York,  E.  P.  Dutton  &  co,  1915. 


COMPULSORY  EDUCATION 
JOHN  T.  BUCHANAN 

EDUCATOR,    ORGANIZER    OF    SCHOOLS 

Education  will  solve  every  problem  of  our  national  life,  even 
that  of  assimilating  our  foreign  element.  The  ameliorating  ef- 
fects of  general  education  would  be  evident  in  a  decade  in  every 
manifestation  of  social  life.  Knowledge  is  light,  and  evil  dies 
in  the  light.  Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  anarchy,  poverty  and 
crime.  The  nation  has  a  right  to  demand  intelligence  and  virtue 
of  every  citizen,  and  to  obtain  these  by  force  if  necessary.  Com- 
pulsory education  we  must  have  as  a  safeguard  for  our  institu- 
tions. What  other  element  of  our  country's  progress  is  so  im- 
portant? In  the  language  of  the  principles  set  forth  by  the  Na- 
tional Educational  Association,  let  me  say  that  the  progress  and 
happiness  of  a  people  are  in  direct  ratio  to  the  universality  of  ed- 
ucation. A  free  people  must  be  developed  by  free  schools.  His- 
tory records  that  the  stability  of  a  nation  depends  upon  the  virtue 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  205 

and  intelligence  of  the  individuals  composing  it.  The  child  has 
the  same  right  to  be  protected  by  law  from  ignorance  as  from 
abuse,  neglect  or  hunger. 

We  have  said  that  the  younger  generation  of  immigrants  can 
be  reached  by  education.  But  this  education  must  be  com- 
pulsory. For,  while  these  people  are  usually  thrifty  they  are 
often  lacking  in  foresight;  and  the  manufacturer,  the  shop- 
keeper, the  telegraph  company  and  many  others  that  employ  help 
offer  a  thousand  inducements  here  to  the  boy  and  girl  to  earn  a 
dollar,  even  if  it  be  at  the  risk  of  losing  a  chance  of  going  to 
school.  It  is  a  strange  fact  that  some  of  the  foreigners  whose 
country  is  known  for  the  general,  thorough  education  which  it 
bestows  upon  all  its  children  are  those  who  are  most  inclined  to 
reject  all  the  inducements  of  our  public-school  system, 'and  to 
allow,  nay  to  urge,  their  children  to  stay  away  from  school,  that 
they  may  earn  money  at  an  age  when  they  ought  to  be  interested 
in  books.  And  yet  compulsory  education  in  this  country  is  to  a 
great  extent  a  far  easier  matter  than  it  proves  to  be  in  European 
countries — no  tuition  fees;  in  many  places  free  books  and  school 
supplies;  all  people  treated  alike;  no  distinction  between  the 
masses  and  the  classes. 

What  does  compulsory  education  carry  with  it?  (i)  The 
pupil's  very  association  with  intellectual  and  honorable  men  and 
women  tends  to  inspire  toward  higher  standards  of  living.  The 
children  soon  find  themselves  in  wider  horizons  of  thought.  (2) 
It  brings  children  of  all  ranks  together.  They  all  feel  that  they 
belong  to  one  and  the  same  great  family  or  nation.  (3)  It  en- 
ables them  to  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge  of  English,  not  the 
slangy  English  of  the  street,  but  good  idiomatic,  grammatical 
English.  (4)  It  gives  the  child  an  opportunity  to  get  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  country  in  which  he  lives,  of  the  government  under 
which  he  exists,  and  of  the  people  of  whom  he  is  to  be  a  part. 
He  learns  that  while  he  needs  the  country,  the  country  needs  him 
too;  that  he  is  to  be  a  sovereign  limited  in  his  powers  by  such 
laws  only  as  he  himself  may  help  to  create,  and  by  such  restric- 
tions as  modern  civilization  places  upon  him  as  being,  upon  the 
whole,  for  the  good  of  all;  that  there  is  no  one  below  him,  and 
no  one  above  him  except  those  whom  he  may  some  day  help  to 
elect  to  attend  to  the  business  which  his  country  demands. 

Forum.      32:686-94.      February,    1902. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION 


EDUCATING  A  NATION 

PHILANDER  P.  CLAXTON 

UNITED   STATES   COMMISSIONER   OF   EDUCATION 

Education,  as  a  national  problem,  has  two  fields:  one  the 
child,  from  the  kindergarten  age  until  the  age  of  majority  has 
been  reached;  the  other,  the  illiterate  adiilts. 

The  problem  of  adult  illiteracy  as  it  confronts  us  today  is 
no  longer  one  of  race  or  section.  The  importance  of  the  task 
of  eliminating  illiteracy  cannot  be  underestimated,  when  we 
consider  that  there  are  nearly  6,000,000  illiterates  in  the  United 
States,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  reached  their  majority.  The 
full  meaning  of  these  figures  will  be  better  understood  if  I 
say  that  in  double  line  of  march,  at  intervals  of  three  feet,  these 
illiterate  persons  would  extend  over  a  distance  of  about  1,500 
miles;  that  marching  at  the  rate  of  twent3'-five  miles  a  day 
it  would  require  more  than  two  months  for  them  to  pass  a  given 
point.  A  mighty  army  is  this,  with  banners  of  darkness  in- 
scribed with  the  legends  of  illiteracy  and  ignorance,  helpless- 
ness and  hopelessness — too  large  for  the  greatest  degree  of  ma- 
terial prosperity  and  for  the  safety  of  our  democratic  institu- 
tions. The  last  census  showed  that  there  were  more  than  two 
million  illiterate  males  of  voting  age;  in  some  states  and  in 
many  counties  the  illiterate  voters  hold  the  balance  of  power 
in  any  closely  contested  election. 

Illiteracy,  as  I  have  said,  pervails  to  a  greater  extent  in  rural 
districts  than  in  cities;  the  greatest  number  of  illiterates  is 
between  the  ages  of  twenty-five  and  thirty-five  years.  In  1910 
the  total  number  of  white  illiterates  was  greater  by  nearly  one 
million  than  the  total  of  negro  illiterates.  Massachusetts  had 
more  illiterate  men  of  voting  age  than  Arkansas;  Pennsylvania 
more  than  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  combined.  Boston  had 
nearly  25,000  illiterates,  Baltimore  20,000,  New  Orleans  19,000, 
Memphis  9,000. 

Sporadic  efforts  show  us  that  there  is  a  shorter  way  to  the 
reduction  and  elimination  of  illiteracy  than  to  wait  for  time  to 
do  away  with  it.  These  grown-ups  can  be  taught  in  schools 
organized  especially  for  them. 

Independent.     87:224.     August    14,    1916. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  207 

EDUCATION  OF  IMMIGRANTS 
H.  H.  WHEATON 

SPECIALIST   IN   IMMIGRANT  EDUCATION,   UNITED   STATES 
BUREAU  OF  EDUCATION 

Some  of  the  standards  established  by  State  constitutions  are 
unfortunate.  In  effect,  the  provisions  in  many  State  constitu- 
tions operate  against  the  establishment  and  extension  of  evening- 
school  facilities,  through  which,  primarily,  the  non-English- 
speaking  foreigner  must  be  reached.  Such  is  the  case  in  the 
States  of  Alabama,  Arizona,  Arkansas,  Colorado,  Iowa,  Kansas, 
Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Minnesota,  Mississippi,  Montana,  Nebraska, 
New  Mexico,  North  Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Oklahoma,  Oregon, 
South  Carolina,  South  Dakota,  and  Wyoming.  In  these  States 
the  constitutions,  in  most  instances,  authorize  the  legislature  to 
provide  for  establishment  and  organization  of  free  schools  only 
for  children  within  the  ages  of  6  and  21  years.  Some  of  these 
States  restrict  the  division  of  State  school  funds  so  that  only 
children  21  years  of  age  or  under  are  the  beneficiaries.  In  only 
one  constitution,  that  of  California,  are  evening  schools  specif- 
ically mentioned  by  name,  and  their  establishment  authorized. 
While  it  is  true  that,  under  existing  rules  of  legal  construction, 
constitutional  provisions  in  the  other  States  enumerated  do  not 
prohibit  legislatures  appropriating  money  from  general  State 
funds  for  the  support  of  evening  schools  and  do  not  make  im- 
possible the  maintenance  of  evening  schools  by  local  communi- 
ties, yet  the  fact  that  State  school  moneys  can  not  be  used  except 
for  children  below  the  ages  of  18  or  21  years  discourages  legis- 
latures from  separate  appropriation  for  evening-school  purposes, 
and  operates  do  discourage  local  communities  from  maintaining 
such  facilities  on  their  own  financial  responsibility  without  State 
aid. 

EVENING-SCHOOL    LEGISLATION 

Most  legislative  provisions  applicable  to  evening  schools  are 
permissive  in  nature  so  far  as  establishment  of  evening  schools 
by  local  communities  is  concerned.  Massachusetts  and  Connec- 
ticut are  exceptions  to  the  rule.  They  require,  under  certain 
conditions,  that  evening  schools  must  be  maintained.  In  Massa- 


208  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

chusetts,  every  city  or  town  in  which  labor  certificates  are 
granted  within  the  year  to  20  or  more  persons  to  whom  the 
literacy  law  applies  must  maintain  an  evening  school  during  the 
following  year.  In  Connecticut,  every  town  having  a  population 
of  10,000  or  more  is  required  to  establish  and  maintain  such 
schools  for  the  instruction  of  persons  over  14  years  of  age.  In 
other  States,  evening  schools  must  be  established  by  local  com- 
munities, provided  a  stipulated  number  of  residents  present  a 
formal  petition.  This  is  the  case  in  Indiana,  where  night  schools 
must  be  established  in  cities  of  over  3,000  inhabitants  upon  the 
petition  of  20  or  more  inhabitants  having  children  between  the 
ages  of  14  and  21  years,  necessarily  employed  during  the  day,  who 
will  attend  such  evening  schools.  Practically  the  same  require- 
ment affects  Baltimore  County,  Md.,  except  that  the  petition  must 
be  signed  by  20  persons  over  12  years  of  age  who  desire  to  attend 
evening  school.  In  Pennsylvania,  the  provision  is  mandatory  in 
second,  third,  and  fourth  class  school  districts  upon  the  applica- 
tion of  25  parents  of  pupils  above  the  age  of  14  years  who  are 
residents  of  the  school  district. 

On  the  other  hand,  legislative  provisions  making  the  establish- 
ment of  evening  schools  entirely  optional  on  the  part  of  local 
boards  of  education  have  been  passed  in  several  of  the  principal 
immigration  States,  such  as  California,  New  Jersey,  New  York, 
Ohio,  and  Wisconsin.  In  fact,  this  seems  to  be  the  standard 
adopted  by  most  legislatures.  The  result  is  that  evening-school 
facilities  are  not  maintained  in  a  large  number  of  communities 
where  a  genuine  demand  and  need  exists.  Even  in  those  cities 
where  facilities  are  established  they  are  usually  considered  merely 
adjuncts  to  the  day-school  system,  rather  than  an  integral  part 
of  the  educational  system.  Thus  in  the  principal  immigration 
States  above  specifically  mentioned  the  number  of  communities 
maintaining  evening  schools  is  surprisingly  low.  In  New  York, 
with  a  foreign-born  white  population  of  2,729,272,  the  largest  in 
the  entire  country,  a  State  having  148  urban  centers  with  over 
2,500  inhabitants,  and  71  urban  centers  with  over  1,000  foreign- 
born  whites,  the  number  of  cities  maintaining  evening  schools  is 
only  41.  In  Pennsylvania,  the  number  is  slightly  higher,  42,  but 
is  really  lower  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  this 
State  has  263  urban  centers  with  2,500  inhabitants  and  127  such 
centers  with  1,000  foreign-born  whites.  New  Jersey  has  only  30 
communities  with  evening  schools,  as  against  61  urban  centers 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  209 

with  over  1,000  foreign-born  whites;  Ohio,  20  as  against  40;  Cali- 
fornia, 9  as  against  30;  Wisconsin,  19  as  against  38.  On  the 
other  hand,  Massachusetts,  owing  to  the  operation  of  its  manda- 
tory evening-school  law,  has  65  communities  with  evening  schools, 
as  against  117  communities  with  over  1,000  foreign-born  whites. 
In  Connecticut,  every  city  over  10,000,  with  the  exception  of  one, 
a  wealthy  suburban  community  which  has  no  reason  to  comply 
with  the  State  law,  maintains  evening  schools  pursuant  to  the 
mandatory  provisions  above  referred  to.  No  State  during  the 
past  two  years  has  passed  any  legislation  making  the  establish- 
ment of  evening  schools  mandatory. 

In  commenting  upon  legislative  standards,  mention  should 
be  made  of  the  fact  that  during  the  last  year  a  method  of  secur- 
ing the  establishment  of  evening  schools  has  come  into  common 
use  although  not  required  by  law  in  any  considerable  number  of 
States ;  namely,  petition  of  immigrants  desiring  evening-school 
instruction  in  English  and  civics.  The  Bureau  of  Education  is 
in  receipt  of  a  number  of  such  petitions  requesting  it  to  use  its 
influence  with  local  boards  of  education  in  securing  evening- 
school  facilities.  It  was  also  advised  of  several  instances  where 
similar  petitions  have  been  made  directly  to  local  school  authori- 
ties as  a  means  of  securing  action  by  them.  This  suggests  a 
very  definite  scheme  of  securing  evening  schools  in  States  where 
these  facilities  are  authorized  by  law,  but  are  not  required  to  be 
maintained.  An  interest  in  acquiring  the  common  language  of 
the  country  develops  among  the  foreign-born  whites,  the  tendency 
seems  more  and  more  to  be  in  the  direction  of  making  formal 
petitions  for  instruction  through  evening  schools.  This  is  quite 
likely  to  be  adopted  by  legislatures  as  a  standard  condition  pre- 
cedent to  requiring  evening  schools,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertain- 
ing the  desire  on  the  part  of  immigrant  residents  for  training  in 
English  and  civics. 

A  most  significant  law  was  passed  by  the  California  Legisla- 
ture last  year,  setting  a  high  standard  for  other  States.  This 
legislation  provides  for  the  appointment  of  "domestic  educators" 
by  local  boards  of  education,  upon  the  basis  of  one  appointee  to 
each  500  units  of  attendance  in  the  day  schools.  These  educators 
are  to  go  from  house  to  house,  especially  in  the  foreign  sections, 
for  the  purpose  of  training  the  mothers  and  children  in  the  rules 
of  health,  sanitation,  and  hygiene,  the  principles  of  buying  food 
nnd  clothing,  the  English  language  and  civics,  and  other  appro- 


2io  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

priate  subjects.  The  Commission  of  Immigration  and  Housing 
of  California,  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  and  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution  have  united  in  developing 
facilities  authorized  by  this  new  law. 

STATE  AID 

Eleven  States  grant  State  aid  benefiting  evening  schools: 
California,  Connecticut,  Indiana,  Maine,  Minnesota,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  Washington,  and  Wis- 
consin. The  amount  of  State  aid,  together  with  the  conditions 
under  which  it  is  granted,  however,  is  not  standardized  in  these 
States.  Under  certain  limitations,  Pennsylvania,  to  promote  vo- 
cational instruction,  grants  to  a  school  district  two-thirds  of  the 
sum  which  has  been  expended  during  the  previous  school  year 
for  such  instruction.  Evening  schools  for  foreigners  are  thus 
indirectly  benefited  if  vocational  instruction  is  given  therein.  In 
Maine  two-thirds  of  the  amount  expended  for  the  salaries  of 
teachers  is  allowed  for  evening  schools  in  which  certain  voca- 
tional subjects  are  taught.  One-half  the  cost  of  maintenance  or 
of  actual  expenditure  for  evening-school  instruction  is  the  stand- 
ard most  frequently  adopted.  This  practice  obtains  in  New 
Jersey  under  a  special  law  to  promote  immigrant  classes,  and  in 
Rhode  Island  and  Wisconsin  under  certain  restrictions  as  to  the 
total  amount  receivable  by  a  community.  Divers  other  methods 
of  apportionment  obtain  in  the  remaining  States,  as  in  California, 
where  it  is  based  upon  average  daily  attendance  in  evening 
schools ;  in  Connecticut,  where  a  fixed  rate  of  $2.25  per  pupil  in 
average  attendance  is  paid ;  in  Minnesota,  where  also  obtains  a 
per  capita  basis  for  evening-school  pupils  between  the  ages  of 
5  and  21  years ;  in  New  Jersey,  where  a  fixed  amount  per  teacher 
is  paid,  together  with  a  per  capita  allowance  based  upon  attend- 
ance; in  New  York,  where  the  basis  is  the  number  of  .teachers 
and  the  days  taught  by  each;  and  in  Washington,  where  aid  is 
given  according  to  the  actual  number  of  units  of  attendance  of 
all  pupils.  In  the  two  States  where  aid  is  granted  upon  the 
basis  of  attendance  an  evening  attended  is  credited  as  half  a  day 
provided  the  session  is  two  hours  in  length. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  some  very  high  standards  have 
been  set  in  the  apportionment  of  State  aid,  yet  none  of  them  has 
received  such  general  adoption  as  to  warrant  the  statement  that 
it  is  an  approved  standard.  While  the  principle  of  State  aid  for 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  211 

evening-school  maintenance  is  firmly  established,  the  conditions 
under  which  it  is  granted  still  need  standardization. 

STANDARDS  IN  ADMINISTRATION 

Supervision  of  evening  schools  ought  to  be  as  definite  and  as 
extensive  as  supervision  of  day  schools.  It  is  not  upon  a  satis- 
factory basis  in  most  communities.  The  general  practice  seems 
to  be  to  leave  supervision  to  the  superintendent.  Only  about  one- 
third  of  the  150  cities  reporting  during  the  last  year  employ  a 
director  of  evening-school  work.  Many  large  communities  re- 
port no  such  school  official.  Only  one  city,  Rochester,  N.Y.,  re- 
ports a  director  of  immigrant  education,  whose  duties  are  ex- 
clusively limited  to  this  particular  phase  of  education.  It  is 
needless  to  remark  that  this  city  has  made  rapid  strides  in  its 
Americanization  work,  due  largely  to  this  specialized  supervision. 
A  very  few  other  cities  report  the  detailing  of  a  principal  to 
supervise  the  immigrant  work  in  addition  to  his  other  duties,  but 
in  these  cities  Americanization  work  has  not  progressed  so  ex- 
tensively or  along  such  definite  lines.  Detroit  has  announced  for 
the  coming  year  the  appointment  of  a  supervisor  of  immigrant 
education  for  the  purpose  of  training  teachers  in  methods,  select- 
ing appropriate  courses  and  texts,  coordinating  the  work  of  the 
various  schools  and  classes,  and  working  out  appropriate  enter- 
tainment on  "social"  evenings. 

In  the  appointment  of  evening-school  teachers  it  seems  to  be 
the  general  practice  to  select  teachers  most  capable  from  the  day- 
school  staff.  Superintendents  who  follow  this  method  from 
choice  do  so  feeling  that  a  day-school  teacher  is  most  competent 
and  has  training  in  educational  methods.  Those  who  follow  the 
practice  from  necessity,  not  being  able  to  secure  suitable  teachers 
from  other  sources,  do  not  approve  of  the  practice,  feeling  that 
the  double  work,  physically  and  mentally,  placed  upon  teachers 
reduces  the  efficiency  of  both  day  and  evening  school  instruction. 
Until  adequate  means  of  training  teachers  for  the  instruction  of 
immigrants  in  English  and  civics  are  devised,  coupled  with  in- 
creased salaries,  it  is  quite  likely  that  this  custom  will  obtain 
generally. 

Methods  of  appointing  teachers  are  quite  diverse.  While  the 
ideal  method  would  be  recommendation  by  the  supervisor  of  im- 
migrant education,  after  proper  professional  determination  of 
fitness,  nomination  by  the  superintendent,  and  appointment  by 


212  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

the  board  of  education,  yet  local  whim  seems  to  have  determined 
the  particular  method.  Some  communities  report  appointment  by 
superintendents,  others  by  boards  of  education,  others  by  com- 
mittees of  the  board  of  education,  others  by  principals,  others  by 
directors  of  evening  schools,  others  by  supervisors  of  extension 
work,  or  by  the  board  of  industrial  education. 

The  qualifications  considered  in  the  determination  of  fitness 
have  gravitated  toward  the  following  tests,  the  order  set  forth 
indicating  the  commonness  of  the  method :  first,  general  teaching 
ability,  training,  and  experience;  second,  known  ability  to  teach 
immigrants ;  third,  experience  in  teaching  immigrants.  Training 
in  the  teaching  of  immigrants  has  been  given  slight  consideration, 
due  to  the  fact  that  few  cities  have  given  definite  training  in 
this  particular  line  of  work.  Knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the 
immigrant  and  sympathy  with  him  and  with  his  national  and 
racial  characteristics  have  not  come  to  be  regarded  as  important. 
Ability  to  speak  the  foreign  language  is  a  requirement  in  some 
places,  and  personality  receives  consideration  in  a  number  of 
cities,  but  no  standard  test  or  definition  of  personality  prevails. 

In  training  teachers  of  foreigners,  some  progress  has  been 
made  during  the  past  year.  In  Rochester,  N.Y.,  a  high  standard 
has  been  established,  the  teachers  being  brought  together  in 
meetings  frequently,  and  training  given  them  in  their  own  class- 
rooms by  the  supervisor  of  immigrant  education.  Small  groups 
of  teachers  are  taken  about  from  school  to  school  by  the  super- 
visor for  the  purpose  of  watching  the  work  of  the  most  com- 
petent instructors.  Similar  methods  have  been  utilized  in  other 
cities,  but  the  training  is  not  so  highly  specialized.  Several 
teachers'  institutes  have  been  held  during  the  past  year  in  order 
to  develop  an  interest  in  this  type  of  education  and  to  point  out 
some  of  the  most  effective  methods  utilized.  Boston  has  con- 
ducted a  teachers'  training  course  over  a  considerable  period  of 
time.  At  the  close  of  the  school  year  a  course  was  given  in  the 
city  of  Detroit,  two  specialists  from  outside  of  the  city  giving 
two  lectures  each  day  to  about  300  persons.  A  similar  course 
was  given  in  Buffalo  at  the  close  of  the  evening-school  term, 
while  several  courses  have  been  given  in  teachers'  colleges  and 
even  in  universities  where  teachers  were  in  attendance.  The 
most  notable  of  such  courses  were  the  ones  given  in  the  State 
Teachers'  College  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  in  the  summer  school 
of  Columbia  University.  This  particular  method  of  training 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  213 

probably  marks  the  beginning  of  great  advance  in  the  equipment 
and  qualification  of  teachers  for  the  type  of  instruction  under 
consideration.  Several  other  cities  have  also  announced  such 
courses  for  the  coming  school  year.  Special  conferences  and 
meetings  of  teachers  have  been  held  in  Harris  Teachers'  College 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Wilmerding,  Pa.,  Rockford  and  East  Chicago, 
111.,  Franklin,  Mass.,  Ribbing,  Minn.,  Garwood,  N.J.,  Hudson 
Falls  and  Yonkers  N.Y.,  Milwaukee  and  Superior,  Wis.  About 
35  cities  report  lectures  on  immigrant-education  problems. 

Lack  of  standards  in  training,  of  course,  is  due  in  part  to 
lack  of  standards  in  methods  of  teaching  English  and  civics.  As 
progress  is  made  in  the  latter  direction,  so  equally  will  advance 
be  made  in  competent  training  of  teachers. 

Salaries  of  both  teachers  and  principals  in  the  evening  schools 
are  generally  paid  upon  the  evening  basis.  Of  354  communities 
reporting  upon  the  basis  of  payment,  271  pay  at  a  fixed  rate  per 
evening;  41  at  a  fixed  rate  per  hour  or  period;  31  on  the  monthly 
basis;  6  upon  the  yearly  basis;  and  5  upon  the  weekly  basis. 
While  payment  upon  the  evening  basis  is  the  standard  usually 
adopted,  yet  distinct  advance  has  been  made  during  the  last  year 
or  two  toward  payment  upon  the  monthly  basis.'  The  whole 
question  of  payment  is  involved  in  the  schedule  of  hours  and 
sessions.  As  long  as  teachers  are  taken  from  the  day-school 
staff  and  evening  schools  are  conducted  on  only  three  or  four 
evenings  per  week,  payment  must  by  necessity  in  most  cities  be 
made  upon  the  evening  basis.  Where  evening  schools  are  con- 
ducted four  or  five  evenings  per  week,  and  where  adult  classes 
are  also  held  during  the  day  the  tendency  is  toward  payment 
upon  a  monthly  basis.  The  extension  of  evening-school  facilities 
and  the  combination  of  adult  day  classes  with  evening-school 
instruction  will  enable  an  increasingly  large  number  of  communi- 
ties to  make  payment  upon  that  basis.  The  professional  side  of 
instructing  adult  immigrants  will  never  be  developed  until  a 
teacher  is  placed  in  a  position  to  specialize  in  this  form  of  work 
to  the  exclusion  of  day-school  instruction  of  children  and  other 
vocations.  Principals  are  usually  paid  upon  the  same  basis  as 
teachers,  although  in  14  instances  a  different  arrangement  pre- 
vails. 

Salaries  of  teachers  and  principals  show  the  greatest  diversity. 
The  most  frequent  salary  in  cities  of  over  100,000  population  is  $2 
per  evening.  This  obtains  in  10  out  of  36  cities  reporting,  al- 


214  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

though  the  range  of  salaries  in  these  cities  is  $i  to  $3,  while  the 
average  is  $2.20  per  evening.  The  most  frequent  salary  in  cities 
ranging  from  25,000  to  100,000  population  is  also  $2  per  evening, 
as  well  as  in  cities  from  10,000  to  25,000.  Twenty-five  out  of 
the  81  cities  in  the  second-mentioned  group  and  26  cities  out  of 
82  in  the  third  group  pay  this  amount.  The  range  of  salaries, 
however,  in  both  of  these  last-mentioned  groups  is  greater  even 
than  in  the  first  mentioned,  being  from  $i  to  $3.50.  The  average 
in  both,  however,  is  below  the  first-mentioned  group.  The  gen- 
eral tendency  seems  to  be  to  raise  the  rate  per  evening  as  interest 
and  appreciation  of  the  Americanization  movement  develops  in 
each  community. 

TERMS,    SESSIONS,    AND   HOURS 

The  greatest  diversity  exists  in  the  number  of  evenings  taught 
during  the  term.  In  Traverse  City,  Mich.,  the  term  runs  through 
20  sessions,  one  evening  per  week,  while  in  Los  Angeles  and  Oak- 
land, Cal.,  the  term  extends  throughout  187  sessions  of  five  even- 
ings per  week.  It  must  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  length 
of  the  terms  in  the  two  California  cities  mentioned  is  due  to 
the  requirement  of  State  law,  it  having  been  made  a  standard 
by  legislative  enactment  that  evening  school  facilities  shall  be 
coextensive  with  those  provided  in  the  day  schools.  In  the  43 
cities  of  over  100,000  inhabitants  reporting,  in  which  the  range 
of  sessions  is  from  46  to  187,  the  average  number  of  sessions  is 
83.  This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  the  average  is  by  any 
means  a  standard.  Only  9  of  these  cities  report  over  90  ses- 
sions; 24  report  from  70  to  90  sessions,  and  10  less  than  70. 
Again,  of  the  102  cities  of  25,000  to  100,000  population  reporting, 
with  a  range  of  sessions  from  40  to  185,  the  average  number  of 
sessions  is  79.  In  22  the  term  runs  over  90  sessions;  in  59 
from  60  to  90  sessions;  and  in  21,  less  than  60.  Out  of  the  113 
cities  of  10,000  to  25,000  inhabitants  reporting,  with  a  range  of 
sessions  from  20  to  177,  the  average  number  of  sessions  is  59. 
Thirteen  cities  report  over  80  sessions  in  a  term ;  78  report  from 
40  to  80 ;  and  22  report  less  than  40. 

State  aid  is  the  most  powerful  factor  in  standardizing  the 
number  of  sessions  in  a  term.  In  New  Jersey,  under  the  pro- 
vision of  the  general  aid  law,  a  community  may  not  receive  State 
aid  unless  it  maintains  night  schools  on  at  least  64  evenings. 
In  Connecticut,  the  minimum  is  fixed  at  75.  In  Minnesota,  State 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  215 

aid  is  not  available  unless  the  pupils  attend  on  40  nights  or  more. 

The  number  of  sessions  per  week  ranges  from  one  to  six. 
The  standard  seems  to  be  three  nights  per  week  on  alternate 
evenings.  Of  376  cities  reporting,  175  had  three  evenings  per 
week,  and  102  had  four  evenings  per  week.  Monday  is  selected 
by  335  cities,  and  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday  evenings 
constitute  the  most  frequent  combination  in  86  cities,  although 
classes  are  conducted  on  the  first  four  evenings  of  the  week  in 
80  cities.  The  tendency  during  the  past  year  or  two  has  been 
toward  the  first  standard  mentioned — three  alternate  evenings 
per  week — Monday  Wednesday,  and  Friday.  At  the  close  of  the 
last  evening-school  year,  the  school  officials  of  Detroit  announced 
that  the  four-evening  combination  would  be  abolished  and  a 
three-evening  combination  would  be  substituted  during  the  com- 
ing school  year. 

The  length  of  a  session  is  unusually  well  standardized ;  323 
out  of  428  cities  reporting  us  a  two-hour  session.  Nevertheless, 
74  cities  have  sessions  of  one  hour  and  a  half.  Although  122 
cities  use  the  7  to  9  o'clock  period,  the  most  common  hours  of 
conducting  classes  are  from  7:30  to  9:30.  One  hundred  and 
forty-six  communities  have  adopted  this  as  a  standard  period. 

REGULARIZING  ATTENDANCE 

Although  cities  have  used  several  methods  of  regularizing 
attendance  of  immigrant  pupils,  the  most  common  practice  is  to 
require  a  deposit  returnable  upon  regularity  of  attendance.  At 
least  150  communities  require  deposits  conditioned  upon  two- 
thirds  to  four-fifths  of  the  evenings  taught.  The  amount  of  the 
deposits  varies  widely.  The  most  common  amount  required  is 
$i.  Out  of  429  cities  77  report  an  actual  fee  charged.  This  oper- 
ates to  discourage  attendance  rather  than  to  regularize  it. 

PUBLICITY  AND  COOPERATION 

In  bringing  evening-school  facilities  to  the  attention  of  pros- 
pective pupils,  the  most  common  methods  used  by  school  author- 
ities are  announcements  in  the  foreign-language  newspapers, 
posters,  placards,  and  handbills.  In  seven  cities  slides  are  shown 
in  moving-picture  theaters.  In  a  few  cities  circular  letters  are 
sent  to  employers  labor  organizations,  foreigners'  societies,  and 
civic  clubs. 

The  greatest  contribution  to  publicity  methods  has  been  made 


ai6  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

by  the  city  of  Detroit,  where  the  board  of  education  and  the 
board  of  commerce  united  in  a  city-wide  publicity  campaign  to 
induce  foreigners  to  attend  night  school.  Several  hundred  in- 
dustrial establishments  cooperated  in  having  their  non-English 
speaking  employees  enroll.  Posters  and  handbills  were  dis- 
seminated broadcast  and  notices  were  placed  in  pay  envelopes. 
Priests,  foreigners'  societies,  foreign-language  newspapers,  pa- 
triotic societies,  civic  clubs,  and  fraternal  organizations  coop- 
erated in  bringing  the  value  of  night  schools  to  the  attention 
of  foreign-born  residents.  As  a  result  enrollment  was  increased 
in  excess  of  150  per  cent  beyond  the  year  preceding. 

For  the  sake  of  stimulating  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
publicity  as  a  means  of  getting  foreigners  into  the  night  schools, 
the  Bureau  of  Education  caused  the  distribution  of  over  150,000 
"America  First"  posters.  These  set  forth  in  English  and  seven 
foreign  languages  the  advantages  of  attending  night  school  and 
learning  the  English  language.  The  response  was  definite  and 
conclusive.  Not  only  was  a  perceptible  increase  in  attendance 
noted,  but  a  positive  demand  for  night  schools  came  from  many 
sections  where  such  facilities  had  never  been  maintained.  A 
considerable  number  of  communities  established  night  schools  as 
a  result,  and  a  keen  interest  in  the  Americanization  movement 
was  developed  among  American  citizens. 

Another  method  of  publicity  was  devised  by  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Naturalization  in  the  Department  of  Labor.  The 
names  of  declarants  and  petitioners  for  naturalization  were 
entered  upon  cards  and  sent  to  the  respective  school  authorities 
in  those  communities  where  these  aliens  resided.  Through  the 
contact  developed  in  this  way  between  naturalization  courts  and 
school  officials  a  considerable  number  of  classes  in  citizenship 
for  those  preparing  for  naturalization  have  been  established. 

In  December,  1914,  the  Bureau  of  Education  suggested  to  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Immigration  in  the  Department  of 
Labor  that  the  names  of  alien  children  of  school  age  be  sent  to 
the  proper  school  authorities  in  those  communities  to  which  such 
children  were  destined  upon  arriving  at  the  ports  of  entry.  The 
names  of  a  limited  number  prior  to  that  time  had  been  sent  to 
certain  cities  upon  request.  The  plan  was  extended  to  all  com- 
munities at  the  beginning  of  the  school  term  of  1915-16- 

From  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the 
year  ended  June  30,  1916.  Chapter  XX,  Vol.  i. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  217 


THE   WORKERS'    CLASS 
WINTHROP  TALBOT 

'        ORIGINATOR  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  DAY-CLASS  IN  INDUSTRIAL 
ESTABLISHMENTS 

The  principle  of  the  workers'  class  is  that  the  public-school 
system  shall  furnish  a  teacher  and  school  equipment;  the  in- 
dustrial establishment  shall  provide  a  room  in  the  place  of  em- 
ployment and  time  during  the  day  for  instruction  without  loss 
of  wage;  and  the  workers  themselves  shall  contribute  their  own 
effort  during  daylight  hours  under  definite  personal  responsibility. 

In  the  workers'  class  it  is  possible  for  any  person  of  ordi- 
nary intelligence  who  has  never  learned  to  read  or  write  in 
any  language,  and  who  can  speak  no  English,  to  acquire  a  good 
working  knowledge  of  600  English  words,  ease  in  reading  com- 
mon prose,  legible  penmanship,  and  knowledge  of  simple  arith- 
metic. The  time  needed  is  60  hours,  or  I  hour  a  day  for  12 
weeks,  5  days  a  week. 

Experimental  Class  for  Adult  Workers 

The  workers'  class  begun  in  New  York  City  in  the  spring 
of  1913  was  an  initial  experiment  in  the  effort  to  meet  the 
school  needs  of  adult  industrial  workers  to  the  end  that  boards 
of  education  might  assign  thoroughly  capable  and  expert  public- 
school  teachers  to  give  instruction  in  industrial  establishments 
to  adults  or  those  beyond  school  age. 

It  was  also  an  effort  to  provide  elementary  schooling,  not 
trade  training,  because  trade  training  is  not  needed  in  industries 
where  all  work  is  done  through  certain  operative  processes 
easily  learned  within  a  few  days  in  the  factory  itself  and  re- 
quiring only  that  expertness  which  must  be  acquired  by  working 
daily  until  "practice  makes  perfect." 

It  is  of  prime  importance  that  in  instituting  workers'  classes 
for  adults  in  industrial  establishments  stress  should  be  laid  on 
discovering  and  employing  as  teachers  only  those  who  are  indus- 
trially minded  and  whose  personality  and  teaching  equipment 
are  such  as  to  grip  the  interest  of  undeveloped  adult  pupils 
whose  minds  are  not  plastic,  whose  attention  is  easily  lost,  and 
who  are  quickly  wearied  mentally.  Moreover,  the  teacher  must 
be  a  person  of  judgment,  adaptability  and  poise — and  nonpartisan, 


218  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

both  socially  and  racially.  The  least  bias  of  thought  or  feeling 
will  find  expression  in  words  or  acts  and  will  militate  seri- 
ously against  success  in  an  atmosphere  of  growing  democracy 
such  as  is  characteristic  of  establishments  sufficiently  advanced 
to  install  a  workers'  class  and  co-operate  with  the  public-school 
system. 

It  became  clear  from  close  study  given  to  this  class  how  hard 
it  is  to  predetermine  correctly  proper  modes  of  study  for  and 
modes  of  conducting  workers'  classes;  wise  methods  can  be 
selected  only  by  experiment,  analysis,  and  adaptation.  Since 
similar  cooperative  classes  are  now  being  formed  in  other  indus- 
tries, as  well  as  in  mercantile  establishments  and  construction 
camps,  it  is  well  to  recognize  possible  pitfalls  and  errors. 

I.  At  first  it  seemed  reasonable  to  suppose  that  girls  who 
had  never  been  taught  to  read  and  write  could  be  assigned  to 
one  group;  that  those  who  had  been  to  school  a  few  years  in 
foreign   countries   could    form   another  group ;    that  those   who 
had  been  to  school  in  this  country  and  knew  a  little  English 
could  form  a  third.     It  was  soon  found  that  the  amount  of  prior 
schooling  could  not  be  taken  as  a  basis  for  grouping.    All  group- 
ing had  to  be  determined  by  the  degree  of  individual  interest, 
application,  ability  to  concentrate,  and  mental  flexibility. 

II.  An  observation  allied  to  this  is  that  methods  of  instruc- 
tion and  teachers  adequate  for  pupils  from  14  to  16  who  have 
just  left  school  may  be  failures  in  dealing  with  workers  over 
16,   especially  those  who  have  been  out  of  school   for  several 
years  and  who  have  lost  entirely  the  habit  of  knack  of  study. 

III.  For  the  first  few  weeks,  in  general,  the  most  striking 
characteristic  in  the  class  was  a  discouraging  mental   rigidity 
and  listlessness.     Girls  became  fatigued  after  15  or  20  minutes 
of  application  to  their  books  like  young  children.     It  was  ap- 
parently more  wearisome  to  them  to  try  to  read  for  10  minutes 
than  to  work  intensely  and  interestedly  at  dressmaking  for  an 
hour.     They  seemed  stupid  and  inattentive  after  a  few  minutes 
of  effort  with  pencil  or  book,  although  evidently  ambitious  and 
desirous  to  learn. 

IV.  In  learning  the  educational  needs  of  girls  in  the  under- 
muslin  industry,   light  is  not  necessarily  thrown    upon   all  the 
mental  requirements  of  workers  in  other  industries.     To  avoid 
costly    errors,  the    institution    of    similar    experimental    classes 
under  like  intense  and  expert  analysis    would  be  the  cheapest 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  219 

and  surest  mode  of  handling  this  educational  problem  in  any 
industry.  What  girls  in  the  undermuslin  line  need  most  might 
be  least  useful  to  girls  employed  on  core  making  in  foundries 
or  selling  goods  over  the  counter.  For  instance,  in  some  optical 
works  only  high-school  girls  are  ever  employed.  "Illiterates  are 
seldom  employed  in  department  stores.  Some  factories  will  not 
employ  foreigners ;  some  employ  only  foreigners.  Certain  estab- 
lishments wish  only  girls  fresh  from  grammar  schools  and  living 
at  home;  others  prefer  older  and  steadier  women,  dependent  on 
their  own  resources.  The  needs  of  men  are  almost  radically 
different  from  those  of  women.  Yet  workers'  classes  are  adapted 
to  everyone  engaged  in  industry — skilled  or  unskilled,  literate  or 
illiterate,  alert  or  dull. 

V.  Another  impressive  deduction  was  the  need  of  care  of 
health,  and  particularly  knowledge  of  physical  handicaps.  One- 
third  of  the  girls  in  this  group,  chosen  at  random,  had  eye  de- 
fects which  would  make  it  impossible  for  them  ever  to  earn 
more  than  a  bare  living  wage  while  working  on  white  goods. 
Such  girls  might  easily  make  much  more  money  as  waitresses, 
or  doing  almost  any  work  which  does  not  require  accurate  vision. 
Such  special  handicaps  are  not  only  costly  to  the  industry,  but 
prevent  the  worker  from  earning  a  proper  livelihood  and  are 
the  frequent  cause  of  the  low  and  stationary  wage.  It  would 
be  to  the  financial  advantage  of  every  worker  and  every  industry 
to  know  by  health  examinations  what  physical  disabilities  inter- 
fere with  productive  wage  advancement  in  any  given  job.  Labor 
organizations  having  the  larger  wage  at  heart  should  exert 
every  effort  to  compel  the  institution  of  such  examinations,  as 
a  matter  of  fair  play  and  justice  to  the  workers.  Managers 
should  institute  such  examinations,  as  a  means  of  avoiding  dis- 
couragement, waste,  and  discontent. 

Workers'  Class  for  Adult  Illiterates. 

As  the  direct  outcome  and  intentional  sequence  of  the  ex- 
perimental class,  by  authorization  of  the  school  authorities,  in 
September,  1913,  Miss  Lizzie  E.  Rector,  principal  of  Public 
School  No.  4,  deputed  Miss  Florence  D.  Myers,  who  had  been 
in  charge  of  the  experimental  class,  to  teach  40  girls  in  the 
factory  of  D.  E.  Sicher  &  Co.,  New  York  City. 

These  girls  were  mainly  those  who  had  never  learned  to  read 
or  write  in  any  language,  and  comprised  all  the  illiterates  in  the 


220  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

factory  force  of  400,  are  about  10  per  cent.  The  girls  were 
assigned  to  two  groups,  one  being  taught  from  October  to 
February,  the  other  from  February  to  June.  The  groups  were 
divided  into  sections  of  six  or  seven  each,  and  each  section  was 
taught  daily  for  a  period  of  45  minutes,  except  on  Saturday. 
In  this  way  every  illiterate  girl  in  the  factory  at  the  time 
received  nearly  individual  instruction  in  English,  reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  American  history,  geography,  personal  hy- 
giene, and  practical  information  about  food,  fire  protection, 
and  the  evolution  of  the  undergarment.  Practice  was  given 
in  the  writing  of  letters  of  a  friendly  and  business  nature ;  keep- 
ing expense  accounts  and  budgets,  and  in  making  out  workslips 
and  reports;  the  girls  learned  the  practical  application  in  daily 
life  of  adding,  subtracting,  multiplying,  and  dividing.  They  were 
taught  how  to  deposit  money  in  the  savings  bank  and  how  to 
draw  it  out. 

Miss  Myers  took  pains  herself  to  sit  at  the  various  ma- 
chines and  get  the  forewomen  to  instruct  and  correct  her,  mak- 
ing note  of  all  their  phrases  and  afterwards  using  them  in  the 
early  lessons  in  English.  In  teaching  English,  practice  was  given 
in  the  use  of  the  telephone  book,  the  city  directory,  and  how  to 
write  telegrams.  The  girls  learned  about  the  mail  service,  how 
to  send  letters  abroad,  the  common  routes  of  travel  in  New  York 
City,  and  local  ordinances.  They  were  given  practical  arid 
simple  rules  for  safety  and  health. 

It  was  obvious,  as  the  weeks  passed  by,  that  the  lessons  in 
personal  hygiene,  physical  culture,  right  breathing,  and  eating 
were  taking  effect.  The  eyes  of  the  girls  were  getting  brighter, 
the  skins  clearer,  the  minds  more  alert  and  receptive,  and  better 
taste  and  judgment  were  shown  in  dress.  From  being  apathetic, 
they  became  interested,  eager,  and  willing  to  work  hard. 

In  no  sense  would  this  be  termed  welfare  or  philanthropic 
work,  inasmuch  as  in  the  records  of  the  firm  the  girl  students 
gained  from  20  to  70  per  cent  in  working  efficiency,  and  the 
girls  themselves  not  only  attained  new  hopefulness,  ambition, 
and  courage,  but  increased  their  earnings  from  an  average  of 
19.5  cents  per  hour  to  22.2  cents  per  hour,  while  the  earnings  of 
those  who  could  not  avail  themselves  of  the  class  instruction 
remained  practically  unchanged. 

Adult  Illiteracy,  pp.  38-46.  Bulletin,  1916,  No.  35.  United  Statet 
Bureau  of  Education. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  221 


A   WORKERS'   CLASS   OF   ILLITERATE   GIRLS 
LIZZIE  C.  RECTOR 

PRINCIPAL,  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.  4,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

The  girls  who  attended  the  school  the  first  year  were  selected 
on  a  basis  of  illiteracy.  Some  had  never  been  in  a  school  at 
any  time  in  their  lives.  Others  had,  for  brief  periods,  attended 
school  in  remote  districts  in  Russia,  Poland,  and  Italy.  Some, 
since  their  arrival  in  New  York,  had  made  an  effort  to  gain 
what  had  been  denied  them  at  home,  by  going  to  night  schools 
after  working  in  the  factory  all  day.  This  proved  to  be  such 
a  tax  on  their  strength  that  most  of  them  finally  gave  up  the 
attempt. 

During  the  past  year  40  girls  have  received  instruction. 
These  were  divided  into  two  classes  of  16  each  and  one  of  8. 
These  classes  were  then  subdivided  into  groups  of  three  or 
four  girls  each,  each  group  receiving  instruction  for  45  minutes 
daily.  They  were  taught  to  read,  to  write,  and  to  keep  a  per- 
sonal expense  account  as  a  part  of  the  course  in  arithmetic. 
As  the  girls  were  engaged  in  the  factory  on  piecework,  the 
firm  paid  them  while  attending  school  the  amount  they  would 
earn  if  actually  at  work,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  week  they 
received  full  pay. 

The  results  of  the  first  year's  work  in  the  classes  have  been 
highly  satisfactory.  A*  careful  examination  of  the  teachers'  and 
the  factory's  reports  shows  that  the  earning  capacity  of  the 
girls  has  been  increased  from  10  to  40  per  cent.  This  result 
is  in  accordance  with  the  established  educational  principle  that 
increased  intelligence  creates  increased  efficiency,  and  increased 
efficiency  produces  increased  earning  capacity. 

Not  only  have  the  girls  gained  in  knowledge  and  earning 
power,  but  their  ambition  has  been  aroused;  they  have  a  keen 
sense  of  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong;  and  they  are 
imbued  with  a  better  spirit. 

At  the  close  of  the  course  in  June,  graduation  exercises  were 
held  and  public-school  certificates  of  literacy  were  presented  to 
each  member  of  the  class. 

From  time  to  time  interested  visitors,  educators,  and  em- 
ployers visited  the  class.  It  attracted  attention  and  favorable 
notice  in  the  daily  press  throughout  the  whole  country,  with  the 


222  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

result  that  other   employers  have  been   stimulated  to   establish 
similar  classes,  especially  in  department  stores  for  literate  girls. 

Course  of  Study  of  the  Illiterate  Workers'  Class. 

I.     English  Language: 

(i)     Reading.  (2)     Spelling 

(3)     Writing.  (4)     Geography. 

(5)     Methods  of  communication — 

a.  Correspondence —  b.  Telephoning. 
Business  letters,  c.  Telegraphing. 
Social  letters. 
Post-office  regulations. 
II.     Hygiene: 

(1)  Personal  cleanliness. 

(2)  Physical  culture   (gymnastics). 

(3)  Food — choice,  food  value,  cooking,  serving. 

(4)  Emergencies,  treatment  of  injured. 

III.  Civics : 

(1)  Systems  of  government — 

a.  Merits  of  democratic  government. 

b.  Patriotism. 

c.  Citizenship. 

(2)  History— 

a.  Origin  of  legal  holidays,  b.  Lives  of  statesmen. 

IV.  Mathematics : 

(1)  Four  fundamental  operations  in  arithmetic. 

(2)  Tables  of  weights  and  measures. 

(3)  Money;  bills  and  currency. 

(4)  Work  reports. 

(5)  Personal  expense  accounts. 

(6)  Bank  accounts. 

V.     Practical  application  of  language :     x 

(1)  Evolution  of  an  undergarment — 

a.  Growth  of  cotton  plant,     c.  Weaving. 

b.  Manufacture —  d.  Shipping. 

Spinning  operation. 
Bleaching. 

(2)  Alphabet  as  a  guide  to  common  things — 

a.  Advertisements.        c.  Directory. 

b.  Dictionary. 

Adult    Illiteracy,    pp.    48-9.      Bulletin,     1916.      No.    35.      United    States 
Bureau   of   Education. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  223 


THE   EDUCATION   OF   THE   IMMIGRANT 
GRACE  ABBOTT 

DIRECTOR    OF    THE    IMMIGRANTS'    PROTECTIVE    LEAGUE, 
CHICAGO,   ILLINOIS 

In  planning  any  new  program  for  the  education  of  the  adult 
immigrant,  the  main  difficulty  is  a  complete  lack  of  definite  ideas 
as  to  what  can  be  accomplished.  Anything,  however  little,  which 
the  evening  schools  have  managed  to  do  has  been  counted  as  so 
much  pure  gain.  There  is,  however,  a  growing  demand  that  the 
education  of  the  adult  be  put  on  an  entirely  new  basis.  To  meet 
this  demand,  it  would  be  necessary  to  decide  at  the  outset  what 
we  ought  to  expect  to  accomplish  in  any  program  adopted. 

People  who  have  been  stirred  by  the  nationalism  which  the 
present  war  has  developed  have  said  that  "we  ought  to  get  the 
immigrants  into  our  evening  schools  and  teach  them  American 
ideals."  These  enthusiastic  patriots  seem  quite  unconscious  of 
the  fact  that,  because  the  immigrant  is  so  inadequately  protected 
against  fraud  and  exploitation  and  because  he  so  frequently 
suffers  from  racial  discrimination,  it  is  perhaps  necessary  to  get 
him  into  a  room  and  to  tell  him  how  different  our  beliefs  with 
regard  to  social  and  political  equality  are  from  our  practices. 
But  until  we  live  these  beliefs  we  cannot  honestly  represent  them 
to  the  immigrants  as  American. 

There  are  others  who  think  that  it  is  necessary  to  teach  the 
strangers  among  us  the  "fundamental  Americanism,"  for  they 
fear  that  the  traditions  of  the  country  will  be  destroyed  by  the 
"invading  hordes."  We  should  probably  rather  seriously  dis- 
agree among  ourselves  about  what  these  fundamental  American- 
isms are ;  but  I  suppose  most  of  us  would  like  to  class  religious 
toleration  as  one  of  them.  When  we  remember  how  long, 
judged  by  this  standard,  it  took  to  Americanize  our  Puritan  an- 
cestors, it  is  a  surprise  to  find  that  people  believe  that  such  prin- 
ciples can  be  taught  by  ten  lessons  in  Americanism. 

Many  Americans  have  in  mind  as  of  first  importance  a  change 
in  the  superficial  habits  of  the  immigrants — their  dress,  house- 
keeping, and  family  celebrations.  And  yet  no  one  of  us  really 
sees  any  danger  to  American  life  in  the  use  of  black  bread  in- 
stead of  white,  or  in  the  wearing  of  a  shawl  instead  of  a  hat. 

There  are  others  who  find  that  one  of  the  greatest  lessons  of 


224  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

the  war  has  been  to  demonstrate  the  need  of  "molding"  the  im- 
migrants into  true  Americans  as  fast  as  possible.  But  this  can- 
not be  accepted  as  an  educational  end  either  for  children  or  for 
adults.  The  "molding"  process  is  contrary  to  sound  educational 
standards.  It  means  ironing  out  individual,  as  well  as  group, 
differences.  It  means  that  the  native  Americans  set  themselves 
up  as  the  "true  American  type"  to  which  the  immigrants  must 
conform.  This  would,  of  course,  be  reckless  in  its  disregard  of 
the  talents  and  capacity  of  other  peoples.  It  would  also  be  so 
stultifying  to  the  native  Americans  that,  it  probably  would  seri- 
ously endanger  any  future  development  of  those  who  are  de- 
scendants of  the  "old  stock." 

Fortunately,  the  educational  needs  of  the  adult  immigrants 
are  of  the  definite  sort  that  can  be  met.  Those  who  see  them  as 
they  arrive  and  after  they  have  encountered  many  of  the  ugliest 
aspects  of  American  life  know  that  they  come  with  some  knowl- 
edge of  industrial  conditions  in  America — that  is  a  reason  for 
their  coming.  But  of  labor  laws  designed  for  their  protection, 
of  the  employment  agent  and  his  practices,  of  possible  markets 
for  their  skill,  of  what  is  a  fair  wage  in  America,  they  know 
nothing  at  all.  They  know  that  we  have  a  republican  form  of 
government — that,  too,  is  a  reason  why  they  come.  Most  of 
them  know  something  of  the  history  of  the  country  and  of  the 
principles  it  has  championed.  But  they  do  not  have  any  con- 
crete knowledge  of  the  machinery  through  which  democracy  ex- 
presses itself  or  is  prevented  from  expressing  itself  in  the  United 
States.  They  do  not  understand  the  history  that  is  being  made 
in  the  United  States  to-day. 

We  are  relying  on  our  public  evening  schools  to  teach  the 
immigrant  English  and  to  give  him  the  information  he  needs  to 
enable  him  to  take  his  part  in  our  community  life.  Chicago  is 
not  especially  behind  other  cities  in  the  educational  provision 
which  it  is  making  for  the  adult  immigrant;  but  that  Chicago  is 
not  doing  what,  in  the  interest  of  the  community  as  well  as  of 
the  immigrant,  should  be  done,  is  obvious. 

According  to  the  United  States  Census  in  1900  there  were  in 
Chicago  69,771  foreign-born  white  persons  ten  years  of  age  and 
over  unable  to  speak  English;  in  1910  the  number  was  184,884. 
By  1916,  it  is  estimated  the  number  was  more  than  200,000.  In 
1900  there  were  46,424  foreign-born  white  persons  over  fourteen 
years  of  age  who  were  unable  to  read  or  write  in  any  language; 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  225 

in  1910  the  number  was  75,580.  How  much  effort  is  being  made 
to  offer  these  people  the  opportunity  of  learning  the  things  they 
need  to  know,  very  few  people  in  Chicago  have  stopped  to  in- 
quire. 

In  the  spring  of  1915,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  and  the  superintendent  of  evening  classes,  an 
investigation  of  the  evening  schools  in  Chicago  was  made  by  the 
Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy  and  the  Immigrants' 
Protective  League.  Only  a  few  of  the  facts  learned  in  that  in- 
vestigation can  be  given  here.  During  that  year,  of  the  17,613 
who  were  enrolled,  only  seven  per  cent  attended  as  many  as  70 
out  of  80  evenings  of  the  session  and  23  per  cent  attended  less 
than  20  evenings.  The  record  of  illiteracy  was  not  kept  by  the 
schools;  but  the  principals  of  the  evening  classes  so  far  as  they 
had  information  on  the  subject  thought  that  practically  no  il- 
literates were  in  the  schools. 

The  inference  drawn  from  such  figures  by  those  who  do  not 
know  all  the  facts  is  that  the  immigrant  is  to  blame  for  this 
showing.  Two  of  Chicago's  leading  newspapers  recently  called 
attention  editorially  to  the  large  number  of  non-English  speaking 
residents  in  the  South  Chicago  district  and  the  small  number 
that  had  taken  out  their  citizenship  papers.  The  superintendent 
of  evening  schools  reported  that  his  South  Chicago  classes  have 
not  been  well  attended.  The  papers  quite  rightly  reasoned  that 
something  was  wrong.  But  even  superficial  investigation  would 
have  indicated  the  real  source  of  the  difficulties.  The  men  who 
are  employed  in  the  steel  mills  of  South  Chicago  work  twelve 
hours  a  day  for  one  week  on  a  day  shift  and  the  next  week  on  a 
night  shift.  The  classes  the  city  offers  these  men  meet  four 
evenings  of  every  week  throughout  a  term  of  twenty  weeks,  just 
as  they  do  in  the  other  parts  of  the  city.  That  so  many  of  them 
should  have  attended  evening  school  under  these  circumstances 
is  a  proof  of  their  great  eagerness  to  learn  English. 

In  order  to  gain  some  first-hand  information  as  to  the  reason 
why  those  who  had  evidenced  their  desire  to  learn  English  by  en- 
rolling in  the  evening  school  dropped  out  in  such  large  numbers, 
the  Immigrants'  Protective  League  visited  in  the  spring  of  1916 
all  those  who  had  left  three  of  the  evening  schools  and  whose 
names  and  addresses  could  be  secured.  These  schools  were  sit- 
uated in  typical  foreign  neighborhoods  in  the  northwest,  west 
and  southwest  parts  of  the  city. 


226  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

Of  the  554  whom  we  tried  to  interview,  we  were  unable  to 
locate  115,  112  had  moved  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  school, 
and  33  had  left  the  city  to  do  farm  or  railroad  construction 
work.  The  reasons  given  by  the  others  were  as  follows : 

Industrial  causes    169 

Overtime  work   69 

Changed  from  day  to  night  work 37 

Changed  jobs,  unable  to  get  to  school 

by  7  p.  m 36 

Fatigue  after  the  day's  work  27 

Dissatisfaction  with  school  51 

No  classification  of  students 6 

Discouraged   over  progress    17 

Teacher      unable     to     speak      their 

language     22 

Indifference  of  teacher   4 

Change  of  teacher 2 

Illness  or  some  family  difficulty   49 

All  other  reasons 71 

340 
Counted  twice   46 

Total     294 

Ways  by  which  a  large  number  of  these  people  might  be  kept 
in  attendance  at  evening  school  immediately  suggest  themselves. 
Those  who  leave  on  account  of  overtime  work  said  that  they 
were  planning  to  return  in  the  fall  when  the  term  began.  But 
they  will  hardly  have  enrolled  before  the  holiday  rush  will  de- 
mand exhausting  overtime  work.  To  meet  this  difficulty,  classes 
should  be  offered  throughout  the  year.  During  periods  of  nor- 
mal immigration  the  largest  numbers  arrive  during  the  spring 
and  summer ;  so  a  summer  term  is  much  needed  on  this  account. 
The  plan  of  beginning  the  evening  classes  in  October  and  closing 
them  in  March  was  never  adopted  with  a  view  to  securing  a 
large  attendance  of  those  for  whose  benefit  the  classes  are  of- 
fered, but  because  tradition  has  kept  the  school  houses  locked 
for  several  months  a  year.  The  evening  schools  receive  students 
at  any  time  during  the  session ;  but  new  classes  are  not  organized 
nor  is  the  work  widely  advertised  except  in  the  fall.  The  fre- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  227 

quent  formation  of  new  classes  and  a  follow-up  system  would 
secure  the  re-attendance  of  most  of  those  who  leave  on  account 
of  illness  or  with  the  beginning  of  the  busy  season  in  their  trade. 

Chicago  conducts  one  very  interesting  and  successful  day 
school  for  adults  near  the  center  of  the  business  district.  Stu- 
dents are  allowed  to  attend  the  whole  day  or  such  part  of  the 
day  as  they  are  free.  A  large  number  of  waiters,  dishwashers, 
and  other  hotel  and  restaurant  employees  in  the  Loop  District 
and  others  who  come  from  various  parts  of  the  city  attend  this 
school.  But  it  is  too  far  away  from  many  of  the  largest  im- 
migrant districts  to  enable  those  who  work  at  night  to  attend. 

Classes  meeting  in  the  late  afternoon  are  very  much  needed 
in  other  parts  of  the  city,  if  those  who  do  night  work  are  to  be 
given  any  opportunity  to  learn  English. 

Men  and  women  whose  work  ends  at  six  o'clock  in  the  down- 
town district  find  it  impossible  to  reach  home  and  to  get  ready 
for  school  by  seven  o'clock.  These  men  and  women  all  said  that 
they  would  be  glad  to  attend  a  class  beginning  at  eight  o'clock. 
It  should,  of  course,  be  possible  to  have  classes  beginning  at  both 
seven  and  eight  o'clock.  But  for  the  Polish  girls  who  worked 
ten  hours  in  a  laundry,  for  the  Ruthenian  girl  who  did  dish- 
washing ten  hours  in  a  restaurant,  for  the  seventeen-year-old 
Polish  boy  who  worked  in  a  foundry,  for  the  seventeen-year-old 
Russian  Jewish  girl  who  was  eager  to  learn  but  who  said  it  was 
a  choice  of  work  or  school  and  she  must  choose  work — for  these 
and  others  who  found  themselves  too  tired  to  attend  after  the 
day's  work — some  radical  change  in  our  educational  program  is 
needed. 

The  Massachusetts  Commission  recommended  the  establish- 
ment of  a  compulsory  part-time  system  for  all  those  under  seven- 
teen years  of  age  in  the  hope  that  they  would  not  only  be  taught 
English  but  be  given  such  additional  general  and  vocational 
training  as  would  meet  their  needs.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  em- 
ployers eventually  will  be  compelled  to  allow  all  their  employees 
who  are  unable  to  speak  English  a  short  period  for  instruction 
during  their  working  hours.  Some  employers  would  be  willing 
to  do  this  now ;  and  the  schools  should  hold  themselves  ready  to 
conduct  these  classes,  provided  reasonably  satisfactory  teaching 
conditions  are  guaranteed. 

The  practice  of  employing  as  night  school  teachers  only  those 
who  are  also  employed  in  the  day  school  is  general.  In  cities 


228  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

where  this  is  not  done  the  teaching  force  is  recruited  from 
students  and  young  lawyers  and  doctors  who  find  their  work  a 
convenient  way  of  supplementing  their  incomes.  In  neither  case 
are  really  professional  standards  possible. 

No  great  improvement  in  the  teaching  can  be  hoped  for  until 
specially  trained  teachers  are  employed  to  do  the  evening  school 
work.  In  some  of  the  large  classes  which  are  composed  of  old 
and  young,  illiterate  and  educated,  and  taught  by  a  weary  teacher, 
the  class  work  is  necessarily  so  poor  that  only  the  most  ambitious 
and  the  hopelessly  stupid  remain. 

Books  intended  for  adults  are  now  generally  used;  but  the 
Cleveland  Survey  reports  that  men  employed  in  one  of  Cleve- 
land's steel  mills  were  found  copying  "I  am  a  yellow  bird.  I  can 
sing.  I  can  fly.  I  can  sing  to  you,"  and  in  another  they  were 
reading  "Little  drops  of  water,  little  grains  of  sand."  Books  in 
which  the  words  and  pictures  are  based  on  the  work  and  life  of 
the  immigrant  men  and  women  are  now  available. 

The  Immigrant  and  the  Community,  pp.  234-46.  New  York.  Century. 
1917. 

SCHOOLS   IN   CAMPS 

SARAH  WOOL  MOORE 

TEACHER,  AND  ORGANIZER  OF  SCHOOLS,  SOCIETY  FOR  ITALIAN 
IMMIGRANTS 

The  schoolhouse  for  a  moving  camp  may  perhaps  be  a  trans- 
formed freight  car  or  a  portable  building,  but  "most  any  old 
country  schoolhouse"  which  may  chance  to  be  conveniently  near 
the  camp  will  not  be  suitable. 

Schoolrooms,  as  at  present  arranged,  are  as  little  adapted  to 
the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  adult  as  are  school  text 
books.  Here  again  we  are  trying  to  make  the  child's  wardrobe 
fit  the  man.  Whether  in  city  or  camp,  school  quarters  for  the 
adult  should  be  of  the  reading  room  type  and  conversation  should 
be  a  stated  feature  of  the  course.  The  ordinary  recitation  room 
open  for  evening  classes,  with  its  individual  desks  screwed  to 
the  floor,  admits  of  no  grading,  no  grouping,  no  pantomime  re- 
hearsal of  verbs,  no  impromptu  "socials,"  no  flexibility  or  free- 
dom of  program. 

Our  commodious  school  shanty  with  its  open  rafters  is,  at  the 
beginning,  forty  or  fifty  feet  long  by  eighteen  wide,  and  soon  a 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  229 

wing  is  added.  Under  the  high  horizontal  window  sashes  a  con- 
tinuous blackboard  surrounds  the  walls.  The  furniture  consist 
of  benches  or  chairs  and  removable  table  tops  eleven  feet  long 
and  two  and  a  half  feet  wide,  supported  on  horses.  A  platform 
at  one  end  of  the  room  and  running  shelves  for  books  over  the 
blackboards  are  a  necessity.  Here  one  teacher  may  take  care  of 
thirty  or  forty  men  in  two  well-defined  grades,  if  each  class, 
grouped  about  its  long  table,  has  its  work  planned  so  that  it  can 
go  forward  while  the  teacher  is  busy  at  the  other  table.  Begin- 
ners, without  regard  to  nationality,  occupy  the  wing  and  have  a 
special  teacher. 

If  a  family  camp,  as  soon  as  possible,  facing  south  or  east 
there  should  be  a  sunny  kindergarten1  extension.  These  three 
rooms  thrown  together  make  a  fine  assembly  or  social  hall. 

In  one  corner  stands  a  neat,  shelved  box  containing  fifty  or 
one  hundred  volumes  loaned  by  the  State  Library  at  Albany.  On 
its  top  are  piled  a  dozen  or  two  games  to  be  enjoyed  Saturday 
evenings. 

The  working  man  likes  his  school  quarters  in  the  heart  of  his 
living  quarters  and  of  the  same  homely  pattern ;  he  likes  to  have 
his  regular  teacher,  his  own  seat  and  his  own  book  and  he  desires 
ardently  what  every  language  student  desires,  to  have  exact  equiv- 
alents for  the  names  of  such  things  as  cannot  be  represented 
graphically,  as,  time,  distance,  value,  exchange,  wages,  debt,  sav- 
ings. He  is  equally  eager  to  get  hold  of  the  English  word  for 
objects  which  may  be  graphically  represented,  not  doll  and  kite, 
however,  but  subway,  tunnel,  hoist,  steam  drill — the  implements 
of  a  man. 

Text  books  must  be  the  staff  of  teacher  as  well  as  pupil,  for 
few  available  teachers  are  at  present  masters  of  any  of  the  immi- 
grant languages.  They  can  communicate  with  instructions  only 
in  English  and  in  pantomime,  from  which  perhaps  one-half  of  the 
pupils  may  gather  profit.  What  of  the  other  half?  Then,  too, 
primary  text  books  insult  the  intelligence  of  men  who  are  not 
infants  because  they  are  learning  to  talk.  Already  mature  and  at 
the  prime  of  brawn  and  brain  and  nervous  force  they  have  trans- 
ferred themselves  from  one  to  another  family  of  nations  and  are 
eager  for  the  English  which  will  express  the  life  they  are  living. 

How  is  it  now?  In  most  night  schools  for  adult  foreigners  no 
better  way  is  found  than  to  start  up  in  the  evening  the  machinery 

1  Camp  children  of  school  age  should  also  be  provided  for  unless  the 
nearest  public  school  is  within  walking  distance. 


230  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

of  the  morning  suitable  only  for  children.  The  inevitable  result 
is  discouragement  and  disgust. 

A  system  must  be  adopted  or  devised  which  with  unswerving 
directness  will  put  the  immigrant  in  possession  of  the  six  or  eight 
hundred  words  which  he  needs  to  understand  and  desires  to  use. 
A  book  entirely  English  should  be  prepared,  giving  at  the  head 
of  each  page  numbered  cuts  of  related  objects,  as,  for  instance, 
those  composing  a  kit  of  carpenters'  tools  or  miners'  implements, 
and  below  on  the  same  page,  the  correspondingly  numbered  Eng- 
lish name  for  each.  "John,  what  is  No.  16?"  Not  only  John, 
but  every  man  in  the  class  searches  for  cut  sixteen  and  recog- 
nizes it  as  a  familiar  acquaintance  before  he  finds  sixteen  in  the 
text  below  and  hears,  clearly  pronounced  by  the  teacher,  its  Eng- 
lish name.  The  class  repeats  the  name  in  concert  and  individu- 
ally. This  drill  must  give  definite  information  and  give  it 
simultaneously  to  Finn,  Russian,  Bohemian,  Pole  or  Italian. 

But  words  capable  of  graphic  representation  will  not  consti- 
tute more  than  an  eighth  of  the  number  which  must  be  mastered 
and  a  committee  on  revision  of  text  books,  which  would  exercise 
an  important  function  in  the  proposed  bureau  of  industry  and 
immigration,  would  do  well  to  select  a  suitable  series  out  of 
existing  books,  eliminate  infantile  subjects,  expressions  and  illus- 
trations, and  introduce  in  the  most  simple  and  gradually  progres- 
sive phraseology  a  man's  conversation.  From  primer  to  third 
reader  the  vocabulary  should  grow  by  accretion  and  use — a  con- 
stant repetition  of  the  ground  passed  over,  a  gradual  addition  of 
substantives  and  words  of  action,  quality  and  relation.  As  these 
new  words  are  introduced  their  equivalents  in,  let  us  say,  Finnish, 
should  be  interlined,  and  at  the  back  of  the  book  be  it  primer  or 
more  advanced  reader  an  alphabetical  vocabulary  Finnish-English 
and  English-Finnish  should  be  subjoined. 

With  such  simple  but  sufficient  tools  to  work  with,  the 
troubled  perplexity  would  pass  out  of  many  Finnish  eyes,  many 
Finnish  brows  would  clear  and  simultaneous  enlightenment  would 
come  to  Pole,  Italian,  Greek — each  man  being  furnished  with  a 
reader  identical  as  to  English  text  and  differing  from  the  others 
only  in  its  interlined  interpretations.  Excellent  text  books2 

2  Chancellor's  Language  and  Reading  for  Evening  Schools.  Harring- 
ton's I  and  II  Book  for  Non-English  Speaking  People.  O'Brien's  English 
for  Foreigners.  Robert's  Lesson  Leaves — English  for  New  Americans. 
Richman  and  Wallack's  Good  Citizenship.  Howard's  American  History, 
Government  and  Institutions. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  231 

already  exist,  but  they  presuppose  a  knowledge  of  our  speech 
which  only  a  few  possess. 

The  evolution  of  the  right  teacher  is  a  problem.  The  kind 
needed  will  be  attracted  to  the  work — experienced,  devoted,  capa- 
ble, reliable  and  human.  Theoretically  a  man  should  be  the 
teacher  in  a  labor  camp  but  the  Society  for  Italian  Immigrants 
has  had  better  success  in  sending  women  out  by  pairs  or  trios, 
and  however  forbidding  the  surroundings,  no  woman  has  suf- 
fered any  discourtesy. 

A  teacher  must  expect  inconvenience  and  difficulty.  His  prep- 
aration should  include  the  principles  of  settlement  work  and 
knowledge  of  one  or  more  foreign  languages ;  for  the  efficiency 
of  a  camp  school  is  not  at  its  highest  unless  the  language  of  the 
campers  has  been  mastered  by  at  least  one  of  the  teachers. 

The  problem  of  full  and  regular  attendance  depends  largely 
upon  the  administrative  ability  of  the  principal.  If  kept  busy 
and  gaining  a  little  headway  each  man  says,  "Tomorrow  I  will  be 
here  sure."  But,  it  is  difficult!  Kinsmen  and  paesani  from  the 
same  village  troop  in  by  squads.  The  beginners'  class  is  sud- 
denly swelled  by  eleven  or  twelve  additions.  Alas  for  the 
teacher !  The  pupils  are  glad  to  have  mistakes  corrected  but  the 
teacher  must  not  chide  or  make  invidious  comparisons  or  praise 
too  much,  for  jealousy  is  easily  aroused.  Though  so  gregarious 
there  is  a  strange  "apartness"  between  paesani  of  different  Italian 
towns — they  do  not  know  or  want  to  know  each  other's  names  or 
numbers  or  abodes,  but  that  gradually  wears  off.  It  is  wise  to 
make  changes  in  the  order  of  school  exercises  without  previous 
announcement.  The  pupils  dislike  innovations  and  the  very  thing 
you  think  will  please  them  most,  may  work  the  other  way.  Each 
wants  his  own  seat,  his  own  book,  his  own  accustomed  turn, 
though  all  like  a  certain  variety  in  the  program  and  not  too  much 
time  devoted  to  one  thing.  Plenty  of  talk,  plenty  of  repetition, 
rehearsal  of  work-orders,  concert  reading,  work  on  blackboard, 
phonic  drill,  free  translation  and  practice  in  the  use  of  a  diction- 
ary, and  simple  dialogues  improvised  by  the  teacher  which  are 
rehearsed  with  great  gusto  and  sympathetically  applauded  by  the 
school. 

Then  there  is  the  problem  of  the  pupil,  often  tired  and  sleepy, 
often  set  back  with  a  new  class  of  starters,  often  experiencing  a 
most  undesired  change  of  teachers,  puzzled  and  at  sea  but  reso- 
lute to  make  the  acquaintance  of  his  new  surroundings,  he  will 


232  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

smile  up  at  you  and  say,  "Bye  and  bye,"  when  that  is  almost  the 
total  of  his  English.  Then,  the  pitiful  "out  of  a  job"  cases  who 
are  "fired"  because  they  consider  their  work  too  dangerous  and 
because  wages  are  not  scaled  up  in  proportion  to  risk.  "I  am 
willing  to  work,"  said  one.  "I  must  work,  I  can't  afford  not  to 
work  but  I  am  not  willing  to  be  killed."  The  pathetic  illiterates, 
young  men  as  well  as  old,  who  delightedly  practice  writing  their 
own  names  and  read  at  sight  words  of  two  letters  and  often  make 
astonishing  progress.  The  intelligent  looking  newcomers  "dumb 
as  horses,"  Greeks,  Slavs,  Ruthenians,  Croatians,  Bulgarians, 
Russians,  Finns— one  can  only  set  before  them  the  array  of  dic- 
tionaries available  and  make  them  pick  out  the  words  "school," 
"country,"  "age,"  "arrive,"  etc. — words  for  which  there  is  no 
object  illustration  in  sight.  Often  one  of  the  group  will  be  able 
to  act  as  interpreter  of  this  or  that  language. 

The  Teaching  -of   Foreigners,   386-391.      Survey.  24.  June  4,    1910. 


PUBLIC    SCHOOL    EDUCATION    FOR    UNITED 
STATES    CITIZENSHIP 

GEORGE  BECHT 
STATE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION,  HARRISBURG,  PA. 

The  revival  of  pageantry  in  various  communities,  working 
out  through  ceremonial  and  dramatic  form  the  episodes  that 
marked  the  rise  and  progress  of  a  city  or  community,  is  one  of 
the  most  significant  methods  of  impressing  upon  the  young  the 
spirit  of  sacrifice  and  social  service.  American  children  show 
their  love  and  appreciation  for  heroic  deeds  in  their  selections  of 
declamations  which  set  forth  the  exploits  of  such  heroes  as 
Horatius,  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  William  of  Orange.  These 
make  their  appeal  to  children  not  because  the  expression  of  their 
lives  symbolizes  a  race  -or  a  group  but  because  they  represent 
fundamental  expressions  of  human  life.  The  school  and  the 
community  should  help  preserve  the  best  traditions  of  the  alien 
and  help  him  to  work  them  out  into  the  newer  relationships.  To 
neglect  their  heroes  is  to  subtract  one  of  the  most  fruitful  fac- 
tors in  teaching  patriotism.  Garibaldi,  Pasteur,  Disraeli,  Volta, 
Mendelssohn,  Marconi  have  a  meaning  to  the  world  that  is  not 
consequent  upon  the  fact  that  they  were  born  across  the  sea. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  233 

The  courage,  strength,  ardor  and  spirit  of  the  great  men  of  any 
nation  are  admired  by  other  nations. 

Hitherto  the  school  has  regarded  the  teaching  of  citizenship 
as  a  special  topic  or  the  work  of  a  separate  department,  but  we 
are  learning  that  every  recitation  constitutes  a  lesson  in  citizen- 
ship and  that  there  is  an  arithmetic  of  character,  a  geography  of 
character  as  well  as  the  ethics  of  character.  There  is  no  branch 
of  study  that  will  not  lend  itself  to  training  for  civic  righteous- 
ness and  civic  efficiency.  The  problem  of  training  youth  in  cit- 
izenship does  not  involve  new  institutions,  new  text  and  new 
subject-matter,  but  rather  a  new  attitude  of  the  teachers  and  a 
new  atmosphere  in  the  classroom.  Children  must  be  helped  to 
think  through  the  problems  of  the  communfty  and  the  relation- 
ships of  the  individual  to  the  social  group  to  which  he  belongs  as 
well  as  to  the  civic  order.  The  alien,  as  well  as  the  native  Amer- 
ican, needs  to  be  instructed  in  the  limitations  of  liberty.  He 
must  learn  that  his  liberty  must  be  liberty  under  the  law.  If 
American  children  understood  this  as  thoroughly  as  they  ought 
to  understand  it,  we  should  not  have  to  blush  in  the  presence  of 
the  foreign  child  when  children  of  native  Americans,  with  half- 
baked  ideas  about  liberty  and  independence,  interpret  that  liberty 
and  independence  in  terms  of  unbridled  license.  What  indeed 
must  be  the  effect  upon  children  of  the  alien  when  in  high  schools 
or  in  the  grades  they  note  the  pupils  strike  because  some  one  has 
been  punished  or  because  a  teacher  has  been  promoted  or  de- 
moted, or  a  holiday  refused?  Above  all  else,  the  school  must 
teach  a  reverence  for  the  law  and  respect  for  the  rights  of 
others.  No  word  is  so  misunderstood  as  "liberty."  One  man's 
liberty  ends  where  the  right  of  another  begins.  The  story  has  it 
that  a  man,  swinging  his  arms  violently  in  a  crowd,  struck  the 
nose  of  a  passer-by.  The  injured  man  objected,  but  the  other 
man  answered :  "This  is  a  free  country."  "Yes,"  was  the  reply, 
"but  your  liberty  ends  where  my  nose  begins." 

The  problem  of  democracy  is  this :  "How  to  utilize  without 
waste  the  tremendously  potent  forces  of  human  life  that  are 
everywhere  about  us?"  The  problem  is  largely  individual.  The 
wealth  in  character  of  the  state  is,  in  the  long  run,  the  wealth  in 
character  of  the  individuals  composing  it.  Every  social  struc- 
ture is  the  outgrowth  of  personal  ideals.  The  public  school  has 
been  an  efficient  agency.  It  will  be  more  effective  in  the  future 
as,  with  deeper  consecration,  superintendents  and  teachers  ad- 


234  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

vance  to  the  unprecedented  problems  that  lie  before  them.  With 
new  ideals,  new  aspirations,  new  hopes,  for  the  enlarged  brother- 
hood of  America,  may  we  not  hope  that  these  dissimilar  national- 
ities will  be  incorporated  into  the  newer  type  of  citizenship  and 
that  we  may  have  a  realization  of  the  vision  pictured  by  the 
lamented  Grady  when  he  said: 

"Bending  low  as  did  Elisha,  and  praying  that  our  eyes  may  be 
made  to  see,  we  catch  a  vision  of  this  splendid  republic,  with  its 
mighty  forces  in  balance  and  unspeakable  peace  falling  upon  all 
its  children ;  chief  among  the  federation  of  the  English  speaking 
people,  with  life  streaming  from  its  borders  and  light  from  its 
mountain  tops,  working  out  its  salvation  under  God's  approving 
eye,  until  the  dark  continents  of  earth  are  opened,  the  highways 
established,  the  jargon  of  the  nations  stilled,  the  perplexities  of 
Babel  straightened  and,  under  one  language,  one  liberty  and  one 
God,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  hearkening  to  the  American 
drum  beat  and  girding  up  their  loins,  shall  march  amid  the  mil- 
lennial dawn  into  the  paths  of  righteousness  and  peace." 

•  The  public  school  and  the  new  American  Spirit.  School  and  Society. 
3:613-17.  April  29,  1916. 


THE  REGENTS'  EXAMINATION 
JESSIE  WALLACE  HUGHAN 

Muffled  sounds  of  the  city  climbing  to  me  at  the  window, 

Here  in  the  summer  noon-tide  students  busily  writing, 

Children   of   quaint-clad   immigrants,   fresh   from   the   hut   and 

the  Ghetto, 

Writing  of  pious  Aeneas  and  funeral  cites  of  Anchises. 
Old- World  credo  and  custom,  alien  accents  and  features, 
Plunged  in  the  free-school  hopper,  grist  for  the  Anglo-Saxons — 
Old- World  sweetness  and  light,  and  fiery  struggle  of  heroes, 
Flashed  on  the  blinking  peasants,  dull  with  the  grime  of  their 

bondage ! 

Race  that  are  infant  in  knowledge,  ancient  in  grief  and  tradi- 
tions— 
Lore  that  is  tranquil  with  age  and  starry  with  gleams  of  the 

future — 

What  is  the  thing  that  will  come  from  the  might  of  the  ele- 
ments blending? 
Neuter  and  safe  shall  it  be?    Or  a  flame  to  burst  us  asunder? 

Scribner's  Magazine,   56:213.     August,   1914. 


LIBRARIES 


BOOKS   FOR   FOREIGNERS 

JOHN  COTTON  DANA 
LIBRARIAN,  NEWARK  PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

Our  immigrants  gather  largely  in  cities  and  in  groups  by 
nationalities.  They  vote,  they  learn  of  the  library,  they  ask  for 
books  in  their  native  tongues,  and  their  requests  are  granted. 
But  that  is  a  very  one-sided  statement  of  the  grounds  for  the 
foreign  language  movement  in  American  libraries.  Though  we 
wish  to  Americanize  our  immigrants,  we  also  wish  them  to  re- 
tain as  long  as  possible  an  interest  and  pride  in  the  countries 
from  which  they  come.  They  adapt  themselves  almost  too  com- 
pletely and  too  rapidly  to  our  ways.  A  savor  of  their  old  habits 
and  methods  of  thought  would  be  a  welcome  addition  to  our  na- 
tional diet  of  industry.  If  the  more  intelligent  among  them 
wish  to  keep  up  with  the  literature  of  their  homes,  and  to  pass 
that  interest  on  to  their  children — though  this  is  almost  impos- 
sible, as  the  children  always  insist  on  using  English  as  far  as 
possible — then  to  aid  them,  through  our  public  libraries,  seems 
expedient.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that  they  find  their  new  home 
still  more  homelike,  and  become  all  the  sooner  attached  to  it, 
when  they  find  one  of  its  public  institutions  giving  them  a  wel- 
come in  their  native  tongues. 

Libraries:  addresses  and  essays,  p.  286.  New  York.  H.  W.  Wil*oa 
&  Co.  1916. 

BUYING  BOOKS   FOR  ALIENS    (1898) 
GRATIA  A.  COUNTRYMAN 

PIONEER   IN    AMERICANIZATION   THROUGH   BRINGING  THE   PUBLIC 
LIBRARY    TO    THE    ALIEN 

This  paper  does  not  expect  to  settle  the  question  raised  by 
the  subject  "Shall  public  libraries  buy  foreign  literature  for  the 
benefit  of  the  foreign  population?"  but  will  try  to  put  into  shape 


236  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

the  reasons  that  have  gradually  brought  the  writer  to  the  views 
now  held. 

We  will  restrict  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  "foreign  litera- 
ture" to  the  lighter  classes  of  literature,  for  no  one  questions  that 
much  of  scientific  and  historical  literature  and  works  of  classic 
value  must  be  purchased  in  the  original ;  but  the  present  question 
refers  to  works  that  will  not  be  used  by  English  readers,  but  are 
purchased  solely  for  the  foreign  element  among  us. 

When  the  Minneapolis  Public  Library  was  opened  eight  years 
ago  a  fairly  large  number  of  books  in  the  German,  French  and 
Scandinavian  languages,  arid  a  few  in  Italian,  were  put  into  cir- 
culation. A  little  while  after  there  came  a  request  for  some  He- 
brew books  from  a  number  of  Jews,  who  did  not  desire  their 
children's  mental  development  to  be  aided  solely  by  means  of 
English  books;  consequently,  a  few  Hebrew  books  were  pur- 
chased, to  the  utter  discomfiture  of  the  head  cataloger.  Then 
came  a  Welsh  minister  with  a  list  of  Welsh  books,  and  those 
were  bought.  The  next  request  was  from  a  colony  of  French- 
Canadians  who  lived  near  one  of  our  branches.  Their  list  was 
honored  and  the  books  sent  to  the  branch  located  near  them. 
Finally,  the  Russians  put  in  their  plea  and  got  a  small  collection 
of  Russian  books,  and  the  Italians  petitioned  for  more,  and  it  may 
be  only  a  question  of  time  before  the  Hungarians,  Poles,  Armeni- 
ans and  Japanese  file  similar  petitions  and  the  head  cataloger  be 
obliged  to  resign  her  position,  not  being  a  polyglot  dictionary. 

Under  such  experiences,  which,  I  presume,  are  repeated  in 
every  large  library,  the  question  naturally  arises :  Should  a  li- 
brary yield  to  these  requests  of  a  foreign  element?  Is  it  a  proper 
function  of  the  Public  Library  to  buy  books  in  so  many  lan- 
guages, and  if  so,  where  shall  it  draw  the  line? 

For  a  number  of  years  my  views  were  similar  to  those  ex- 
pressed in  an  editorial  of  the  Library  Journal  of  October,  1894, 
which  were  in  substance  that  the  purchase  of  books  in"  foreign 
languages  should  be  minimized ;  that  the  library  should  not  serve 
to  perpetuate  the  barriers  of  race  and  language ;  that  the  library 
should  be  wholly  American,  and  its  influence  tend  wholly  toward 
Americanizing  the  foreign-born. 

This  seemed  to  me  the  true  view  until,  happening  over  at  the 
branch  where  the  French-Canadians  were  just  receiving  their  new 
books,  I  saw  them  gathering  around  these  treasures  like  flies 
around  a  molasses-jug,  and,  with  heads  close  together,  buzzing 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  337 

with  suppressed  excitement  and  delight.  I  knew  then  that  those 
few  books  would  bring  happiness  for  days  to  come.  My  previous 
opinions  were  shaken,  and  the  question  naturally  arose :  "Were 
they  worse  citizens  because  the  city  library  supplied  to  them 
books  in  their  own  native  tongue?  Were  they  less  good  Amer- 
icans because  their  adopted  country  and  its  institutions  recognized 
their  peculiar  needs?"  Nay,  verily,  I  thought  not;  rather  their 
feeling  would  be  one  of  gratitude  and  a  sense  of  obligation  that 
would  bind  them  to  the  library  and  this  country  more  than  the 
national  literature  could  possibly  separate  them. 

In  one  of  our  branches,  which  is  located  in  a  district  largely 
Scandinavian,  we  have  shelved  several  thousand  Scandinavian 
books.  I  have  never  seen  a  Scandinavian  child  go  near  those 
shelves.  I  remarked  upon  this  one  day  to  a  Norwegian,  and 
asked  him  if  he  didn't  want  his  children  to  keep  their  language 
and  a  knowledge  of  their  native  literature.  He  answered,  in 
broken  English,  to  the  effect  that  his  children  had  to  live  in  this 
country  and  he  wanted  them  to  keep  our  language  and  our  books 
and  our  customs.  I  asked  him  if  that  feeling  was  quite  general, 
and  he  answered  that  it  was,  so  far  as  he  knew;  and  then  he 
added  that  his  children  could  not  be  made  to  read  anything  but 
English  if  he  wanted  them  to.  That  did  not  sound  as  if  foreign 
literature  in  the  library  were  producing  anything  but  American 
loyalty.  Certainly  this  Norwegian  wanted  his  children  to  be 
American,  and  his  children  insisted  upon  being  American.  He 
himself  wanted  books  in  his  own  language,  but  that  did  not  keep 
up  in  his  mind  any  race  barrier. 

The  night  schools  in  our  cities  are  attended  very  largely  by 
foreigners — young  men  who  are  anxious  to  read  and  speak  our 
language,  who  look  forward  to  being  American  citizens.  The 
library  does  not  need  to  supply  foreign  literature  to  any  extent 
for  them  or  the  children.  But  the  older  ones  can  scarcely  be 
expected  to  forget  their  fatherland  or  to  cease  loving  their 
mother  tongue.  Besides  this,  they  either  speak  English  with 
difficulty  or  not  at  all,  so  that  if  they  cannot  get  any  books  in 
their  own  tongue  they  will  be  likely  to  read  nothing  at  all.  It 
does  not  appear  that  the  library  would  be  making  better  citizens 
of  them  by  doing  nothing  at  all  for  them  than  if  they  supplied 
them  with  books  they  could  read. 

What,  on  the  whole,  could  be  more  Americanizing  than  the 
feeling  of  loyalty  which  these  alien  people  would  soon  feel  for 


238  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

the  cosmopolitan  library  that  welcomes  them  and  in  which  they 
have  a  part  and  a  place? 

I  believe  still  that  the  library  should  be  an  Americanizing  in- 
stitution, but  it  must  reach  these  people  before  it  can  Amer- 
icanize them,  and  if  it  succeeds  in  making  any  one  of  them  more 
contented  and  happy  it  has  to  that  extent  made  him  a  more  loyal 
American.  Moreover,  will  not  this  land  of  his  adoption  profit 
more  by  the  foreigner  whose  intelligence  is  increased,  even  if  it 
is  done  through  the  medium  of  his  own  language?  Discontent 
with  surroundings  and  ignorance  are  the  causes  of  rebellion  and 
disloyalty  to  one's  country,  and  both  of  these  the  library  may 
help  to  dispel  from  the  foreigner. 

In  the  twenty-five  years  ending  with  1895  one- third  of  the  in- 
crease in  our  population  was  from  foreign  immigration;  great 
numbers  of  these  were  paupers  and  illiterates,  who  join  the  ranks 
of  the  anarchists  and  learn  to  rail  against  us.  If  these  foreigners 
become  insane,  we  care  for  them  in  our  hospitals ;  if  they  become 
criminal,  we  pay  for  bringing  them  to  justice  and  keeping  up  the 
machinery  of  reformatories  and  prisons.  The  public  funds  are 
drawn  upon  continually  in  their  behalf.  It  is  certainly  just  as 
legitimate  a  use  of  public  funds  that  some  of  it  be  used  by  the 
public  library  for  the  elevation  of  these  same  men  and  women. 
The  money  spent  in  foreign  literature  may  mean  just  that  much 
less  for  prisons  and  asylums.  It  is  the  ounce  of  prevention. 

We  are  accustomed  to  use  all  of  our  ingenuity  to  attract  to 
our  libraries  the  illiterate  of  our  own  race;  we  urge  their  chil- 
dren to  come,  and  allure  them  with  picture-books  and  pleasant 
rooms ;  we  want  the  newsboy  and  the  factory  girl,  but  we  want 
also  the  maids  in  our  kitchens  and  the  foreign  laborer  who  digs 
our  streets.  Every  reason  which  justifies  our  efforts  to  attract 
in  the  one  instance  does  in  the  other,  and  if  foreign  literature  is 
the  bait  which  will  draw  any  foreign  element,  then  it  is  as  legit- 
imate as  any  attraction  that  we  use. 

One  objection  urged  against  the  purchase  of  books  in  foreign 
languages  is  that  we  exclude  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  per  cent 
of  the  readers  from  using  the  book,  but  that  might  be  said  of 
almost  any  class  in  the  library.  Why  purchase  technical  or  pro- 
fessional books,  or  rare  and  valuable  books,  for  fully  eighty  per 
cent  of  the  readers  will  be  excluded  from  reading  them.  It  can- 
not be  a  wrong  to  these  eighty  per  cent  of  the  readers  that  the 
other  twenty  per  cent  are  getting  what  they  want.  It  is  for  the 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  239 

benefit  of  the  whole  community  that  every  part  of  it  should  be 
enlightened. 

But  the  library,  while  having  obligations  to  the  state  in  the 
way  of  making  good  citizens,  and  to  the  community  to  spend  the 
funds  legitimately,  has  obligations  also  toward  the  individual. 
There  are  strangers  within  our  gates  to  whom  we  owe  hospital- 
ities and  whose  lives  we  can  cheer.  How  many  times  do  we  hear 
of  the  loneliness  of  these  people  who  have  been  transplanted,  and 
how  their  loneliness  drives  them  into  morbidness  and  to  the  verge 
of  insanity.  Their  mental  growth  is  stopped  and  their  lives  stag- 
nated. The  library  owes  something  to  every  individual  man, 
woman  and  child.  The  library  has  no  better  cause  for  existence 
than  to  bring  sunshine  into  individual  lives,  and  it  has  not  wholly 
fulfilled  its  mission  if  it  leaves  whole  masses  of  people  unreached. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  reach  any  conclusion  as  to  where  a 
library  shall  draw  the  line  in  providing  for  different  nationalities. 
The  state  of  library  finances  usually  settles  the  fact  that  there 
must  be  a  line.  We  cannot  do  all  that  we  would  do,  and  different 
conditions  make  the  problem  different  in  every  library. 

In  theory,  even  if  not  possible  in  practice,  it  would  seem  that 
any  nationality  which  had  a  desire  for  books  and  interest  and 
enterprise  enough  to  ask  for  them  ought  to  have  them,  even  if  it 
must  be  in  small  quantities.  The  very  asking  is  the  furnishing  of 
an  opportunity.  If  we  do  not  seek  them  in  the  highways  and 
hedges,  but  find  them  actually  knocking  at  the  door,  they  surely 
ought  to  have  a  seat  in  the  feast.  This  might  be  impracticable 
and  even  impossible  in  many  libraries,  but  up  to  the  present  date 
the  Minneapolis  Public  Library  has  never  refused  a  request  from 
any  nationality,  even  if  the  finances  allowed  but  a  small  outlay. 
We  believe  that  by  this  means  of  drawing  them  to  us  we  will 
assimilate  them  most  rapidly,  and  by  contact  will  dissolve  race 
prejudice. 

To  sum  up,  we  believe  that  the  buying  of  foreign  literature 
will  help  rather  than  hinder  to  foster  Americanism.  We  believe 
that  it  is  a  legitimate  use  of  public  funds,  and  that  it  meets  a 
duty  which  we  actually  owe  to  these  strangers.  We  believe,  also, 
that  it  is  true  of  libraries,  as  of  individuals,  that  "He  liveth  best 
who  loveth  best." 

The   Library   Journal.      33:339-31.     June,    1898. 


240  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

AN  EDUCATIONAL  OPPORTUNITY  AND  THE 
LIBRARY 

J.  MAUD  CAMPBELL 

PIONEER   LIBRARIAN    WORKER   WITH   IMMIGRANTS,    SECRETARY   MASSA- 
CHUSETTS   IMMIGRATION    COMMISSION 

Our  opportunity  came  with  our  work  among  the  foreign- 
speaking  people — through  having  a  beautiful  little  building,  given 
to  the*  town  by  one  of  our  big-hearted  citizens,  situated  in  a  sec- 
tion surrounded  by  between  12,000  and  13,000  people  who  could 
not  speak  English,  far  less  read  it. 

Perhaps  natural  curiosity  prompted  the  first  invasion  of  our 
library  by  this  foreign  population.  Many  foreigners  came  to 
look,  and  when  they  found  newspapers  in  their  home  languages, 
their  pride  was  touched  and  appeals  came  in  to  us  from  members 
of  different  nationalities  for  books  in  their  own  languages.  The 
accumulation  of  about  1,000  volumes  in  eleven  languages  has 
furnished  many  amusing  and  interesting  experiences.  Quite  con- 
fidently I  started  out  to  get  books  in  languages  and  literatures  of 
which  I  knew  little  or  nothing,  thinking  it  would  be  a  very  simple 
matter ;  it  did  not  prove  as  simple  as  it  sounds.  So  my  next  move 
was  to  get  the  people  to  say  specifically  what  they  wanted  and 
where  the  books  could  be  purchased,  and  our  orders  went  flying 
to  dealers  in  towns  you  cannot  even  find  on  the  map.  But  the 
books  came  and  gave  satisfaction,  only  to  be  followed  by  the  cry 
for  "more,  more."  However  even  the  most  patriotic  Slovac,  Bo- 
hemian, Pole,  or  Russian  has  to  confess  that  from  two  to  five 
hundred  tiles  exhaust  the  popular  books  in  his  literature,  and  my 
patrons  came  to  the  point  where  they  had  no  more  titles  to  sug- 
gest, but  wanted  more  books  to  read.  We  then  asked  them  why 
they  did  not  read  English  books,  for  while  we  had  only  a  few 
hundred  in  their  languages,  we  had  many  thousands  in  English, 
many  of  which  related  to  their  own  countries.  The  reply  was 
that  they  could  not  read  English,  and  when  we  asked  them  why 
they  did  not  learn  there  came  the  astonishing  answer  that  it  was 
very  difficult  for  a  working  man  to  get  any  one  to  teach  him  to 
read — there  were  some  young  men  who  went  around  tutoring  at 
fifty  cents  a  lesson,  but  they  were  so  busy  it  was  hard  to  get  them. 
What  about  our  boasted  public  schools?  A  visit  to  the  board  of 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  241 

education  brought  the  information  that  no  state  assistance  was 
given  for  the  education  of  persons  over  twenty  years  of  age,  and 
anything  done  for  adults  must  be  done  by  the  city  alone. 

I  have  little  patience  with  the  sentiment  so  often  heard — "we 
can't  expect  to  do  anything  with  the  adult  immigrant,  but  we  will 
do  the  best  we  can  for  the  children" — and  I  fear  that  expresses  a 
spirit  of  false  economy.  Statisticians  have  figured  that  every 
child  carried  through  the  public  schools  to  what  is  called  "the 
age  of  production"  has  cost  the  state  $1,000  for  education  and 
protection,  and  there  are  still  seven  years  to  pass  before  the 
boys  have  a  voice  in  our  national  government.  Yet  we  are  willing 
to  spend  this  money  and  wait  all  these  years  in  order  that  when 
the  boys  do  claim  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  they  shall  cast  an 
intelligent  vote.  Now  here  come  the  adult  immigrants,  bringing 
the  supply  of  muscle  we  need  so  much  for  development  of  the 
country,  without  having  cost  us  one  cent  either  for  education  or 
protection,  and  becoming,  at  once,  not  only  producers,  but  con- 
sumers. Of  these  the  majority  come  with  the  prime  of  life  be- 
fore them,  more  coming  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty 
than  at  any  other  age  period.  In  twelve  states  in  the  Union  they 
can  vote  in  one  year  after  declaring  their  intention,  in  no  state 
do  they  have  to  wait  more  than  seven  years,  and  in  the  majority 
only  five,  and  in  New  Jersey  there  are  today  over  48,709  males  of 
voting  age  who  cannot  speak  English.  Can  we  afford  to  say  it  is 
not  worth  while  doing  anything  for  these  people?  They  are  go- 
ing to  become  citizens — not  always  because  they  care  to  vote,  or 
are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  our  government,  but  for  a  thou- 
sand and  one  personal  reasons  they  think  citizenship  will  ad- 
vance; they  are  going  to  vote,  and  they  are  going  to  sell  their 
votes  just  as  long  as  there  are  American  traitors  enough  to  their 
country  to  offer  to  buy  them.  I  understand  the  new  naturaliza- 
tion law  has  made  it  compulsory  for  a  foreigner  to  be  able  to 
read  and  write  in  English  before  becoming  a  citizen,  which  makes 
it  more  incumbent  upon  us  to  see  that  facilities  are  offered  to 
them  to  enable  them  to  meet  this  just  requirement. 

In  the  cities,  adults  are  admitted  to  night  schools,  but  in  classes 
with  the  young  people  who  are  compelled  to  go  to  school  at 
night,  if  they  are  to  be  allowed  to  work  during  the  day,  and  some- 
times these  young  people  are  not  very  ambitious  students.  Then 
as  the  schools  must  be  conducted  as  economically  as  possible, 
the  teachers  who  teach  in  th«  day  schools  are  allowed  to  increase 
their  salaries  by  teaching  in  the  evening  schools.  They  do  not 


242  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

understand  the  languages  spoken  by  the  foreign  pupils,  so  these 
people  cannot  ask  questions,  if  there  is  anything  they  do  not  un- 
derstand. Hearing  no  protest  the  teachers  go  gaily  on,  and  the 
pupils  lose  one  step  after  another  until  they  become  discouraged 
and  stop  school,  feeling  that  it  is  too  difficult  for  them,  that  they 
can  never  learn.  I  do  not  think  it  ever  enters  the  minds  of  these 
people  to  question  the  method  of  instruction,  if  they  do  not 
learn ;  the  fault  must  be  theirs,  there  is  nothing  wrong  with  the 
schools.  But  discussions  with  several  nationalities  have  brought 
out  the  facts  that  each  nationality  would  prefer  to  have  one  class 
for  all  of  its  own  people,  mixed  classes  being  confusing;  they 
want  a  teacher  who  will  understand  their  language,  so  they  can 
ask  questions;  the  regular  school  curriculum  is  not  what  they 
want;  they^want  simply  to  learn  to  speak,  read  and  write  in 
English,  ana  to  know  some  of  the  more  important  laws  of  the 
community,  which  they  must  not  break.  The  law  holds  a  very 
important  place  in  the  eyes  of  the  foreigner,  yet  in  spite  of  their 
interest  in  this  country,  we  cannot  find  books  in  their  own  lan- 
guages giving  the  state  laws,  city  laws,  police  ordinances,  or 
board  of  health  regulations  of  the  cities  of  this  state.*  The 
only  way  for  these  people  to  find  out  what  the  law  is,  is  to  break 
it,  and  be  arrested  and  fined. 

Of  course,  the  remedy  for  ignorance  is  education,  and  on 
bringing  these  facts  to  the  attention  of  those  controlling  the  edu- 
cational interests  of  New  Jersey,  the  legislature  last  winter  au- 
thorized the  Governor  to  appoint  a  commission  to  investigate  and 
report  upon  the  actual  condition  of  the  adult  immigrant.  On  the 
strength  of  the  report  made,  Governor  Stokes  in  his  annual  mes- 
sage asked  the  incoming  legislature  to  do  something  to  assist  the 
foreign-speaking  people  to  learn  the  conditions  surrounding  their 
lives  here.  He  suggested  that  this  might  well  come  under  the 
state  board  of  education,  and  after  conference  with  the  members 
of  this  board,  a  bill  was  prepared,  offering  state  aid  to  munic- 
ipalities desiring  schools  for  adult  immigrants,  providing  the 
municipalities  raised  an  equal  sum,  as  is  done  in  regard  to  manual 
training  in  this  state.  These  schools  will  follow  the  recom- 
mendations made  by  the  Immigrant  Commission  as  to  subjects 
taught,  teachers,  etc.,  and  if  the  bill  becomes  a  law,  it  will  enable 
any  town  in  the  state  to  offer  educational  assistance  to  its  for- 
eign-speaking inhabitants. 

*  Numbers  of  such  books  are  printed  now  in  all  languages. — Editor. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  243 

It  is  well  to  speak  of  things  we  succeed  in  securing,  but  per- 
haps it  is  also  as  well  to  acknowledge  where  we  fail.  I  have  em- 
phasized this  subject,  as  an  educational  opportunity  but  mainly  in 
the  hope  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  secure  the  right  sort  of  litera- 
ture on  this  country,  historically  and  socially,  in  foreign  lan- 
guages. So  far  we  have  nothing  in  view  but  a  couple  of  small 
primers,  in  a  most  elementary  form.  I  do  not  like  foreigners  to 
become  imbued  with  the  idea  that  Orsi,  Romussi,  Cermak, 
Schmidt,  Dyniwicz,  or  Badad  are  American  historians,  yet  these 
are  the  people  who  are  writing  our  history  for  them.  Bryce's 
"American  commonwealth"  has  been  translated,  but  recognized 
American  historians  are  unknown  to  the  foreigners.  Perhaps 
the  schools  will  remedy  this  lack  of  literature,  and  I  wish  it  were 
possible  for  the  library  associations  to  help.  .  .  . 

Tkt  Library  Journal.     32:157-8.     April,   1907. 

THE   LIBRARY   AND    THE  FOREIGN 
SPEAKING   MAN 
PETER  ROBERTS 

SECRETARY    INTERNATIONAL    COMMITTEE,    YOUNG    MEN'S 
CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATION 

When  the  books  of  Lester  F.  Ward  were  issued  in  Russia  the 
censors  seized  and  confiscated  them ;  when  Mr.  Paryski,  a  printer 
of  Polish  books  and  papers  in  the  city  of  Toledo,  sends  his  com- 
modity to  Russia,  he  has  to  bribe  some  of  the  Governors  of  the 
Provinces,  and  when  bribes  do  not  work  his  agents  risk  their 
life  and  liberty.  In  Southern  Italy  and  the  Balkan  States  the 
press  is  under  the  surveillance  of  ecclesiastics,  and  what  the 
church  condemns  has  little  chance  to  see  the  light  of  day.  Censor- 
ship, either  by  the  government  or  the  church,  is  exercised  with 
rigor  in  many  countries  of  Europe,  and  not  a  few  men  are  now 
refugees  in  America  because  they  advocated,  either  by  pen  or 
tongue,  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  liberty  of  speech;  others, 
less  fortunate  in  making  their  escape,  now  suffer  in  prison. 

It  is  very  different  in  America.  *The  freedom  of  the  press 
and  liberty  of  speech  have  been  more  fully  realized  in  this  coun- 
try than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  We  have  thousands  of 
libraries  founded  for  the  people,  where  all,  regardless  of  social 
status,  are  invited  to  come;  books  are  not  withheld,  but  offered 


24*  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

freely.  We  believe  that  the  degree  of  intelligence  found  in  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  masses  in  the  measure  of  success  of  a  de- 
mocracy. The  trend  of  modern  civilization  is  to  popularize 
knowledge — make  it  as  attractive  as  possible  to  the  masses.  In 
thousands  of  cities  in  America,  men  who  want  to  read  can  find 
well  lighted  and  well  heated  rooms,  where  they  may  study  a 
range  of  subjects  not  in  the  perspective  of  scholars  a  century 
ago.  This  free  press,  free  speech,  free  dissemination  of  knowl- 
edge and  inducements  to  learn,  is  a  priceless  heritage  and  should 
be  passed  on  to  coming  generations. 

In  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  there  are  more  than  ten 
million  peoples,  the  majority  of  whom  live  in  urban  communi- 
ties ;  more  than  40  per  cent,  are  of  foreign  birth,  which  means  a 
population  of  nearly  four  and  one  quarter  millions.  We  some- 
times feel  apprehensive  of  American  institutions  when  gross  ig- 
norance of  them  is  met  with  among  the  native-born;  but  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  four  and  one-quarter  millions  who  have  not 
been  trained  in  our  public  schools,  whose  conception  of  govern- 
ment is  often  a  blood-stained  sword  of  a  smoking  musket,  and 
whose  culture  and  training  have  fallen  short  of  ideals  in  our  re- 
public? If  the  heritage  of  free  speech  and  a  free  press  is  to  be 
retained,  if  we  hope  to  perpetuate  a  system  of  free  education,  if 
refined  agencies  consecrated  to  the  dissemination  of  knowledge 
are  to  be  continued,  the  genius  of  the  people  must  be  cultivated 
in  the  foreign-born,  so  that  they  will  fully  appreciate  the  effort 
made  to  bring  the  light  of  truth  and  beauty  to  the  masses. 

What  can  the  libraries  do  to  bring  about  this  consummation? 
They  can  carefully  study  the  needs  of  the  foreigner  and  intel- 
ligently meet  these  needs.  I  will  mention  a  few  of  them. 

A  prime  need  of  the  foreign-speaking  is  a  knowledge  of  the 
English  language,  and  it  is  our  privilege  and  duty  to  help  him  to 
secure  the  same.  Before  you  meet  again  in  your  annual  session 
nine  hundred  thousand  foreigners  will  have  landed  in  America, 
all  of  whom  speak  a  foreign  tongue.  In  Philadelphia  and  Pitts- 
burgh, Hoboken  and  Passaic,  there  are  whole  sections  where 
nothing  but  a  foreign  tongue  is  used.  Walk  the  streets  of  New- 
ark or  Scranton  on  a  Saturday  evening  when  the  wage-earners  do 
their  marketing,  and  the  sound  of  foreign  tongues  prevails  on  all 
sides.  As  long  as  these  people  use  only  their  mother  tongue, 
they  will  be  alien  in  sentiment  and  spirit.  They  will  not  enter 
into  our  life  nor  the  spirit  of  America.  The  first  step  in  the 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  245 

process  of  assimilation  is  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language. 
It  should  be  the  concern  of  employers  of  labor,  educators  in  city 
and  state,  statesmen  of  state  and  nation,  social  workers,  religious 
and  philanthropic  agencies,  to  cooperate  in  this  great  undertak- 
ing. The  Pole  should  retain  his  mother  tongue,  the  German 
should  continue  to  speak  German,  the  Italian  should  retain  his 
native  language,  but  if  these  men  come  to  live  in  America,  it  is 
best  for  all  concerned  that  they  should  learn  as  soon  as  possible 
the  language  of  the  shop  and  factory,  the  market  and  the  court, 
the  forum  and  the  pulpit. 

Librarians  can  do  much  to  help  this  work.  In  the  Tompkins 
Square  Library,  New  York  City,  a  class  of  thirty-eight  foreign- 
ers meets  twice  a  week  to  study  English.  It  was  brought  to- 
gether by  an  assistant  librarian,  who  is  of  foreign  birth.  In 
another  library  fifty  Bohemians  meet  regularly  for  instruction, 
brought  together  by  an  assistant  librarian  who  is  a  Bohemian. 
The  head  librarian  takes  interest  in  the  class,  visits  it  and  gets 
acquainted  with  the  men ;  if  any  are  absent  he  sends  cards  to 
them  urging  better  attendance;  if  they  come  to  the  library  they 
talk  to  them  about  the  work.  The  librarian  keeps  a  supply  of 
blank  forms  on  hand  which  may  be  filled  by  anyone  who  wants 
to  join  the  class;  these  forms  are  given  the  men  who  visit  the 
building  to  take  out  books  in  foreign  tongues.  The  force  in  the 
library  advertise  the  work,  and  never  forget  to  speak  highly  of 
the  efforts  of  both  teacher  and  scholar. 

Does  this  work  pay?  The  librarians  say  it  does.  Last  year 
it  was  an  experiment:  this  year  the  librarians  ask  for  classes. 
The  foreigners  are  brought  in  touch  with  the  library,  the  libra- 
rian gets  closer  to  the  foreigners  and  revises  his  judgment  con- 
cerning them,  while  the  quiet,  refining  influences  of  the  library 
act  favorably  upon  the  alien.  What  we  do  in  Manhattan  is  pos- 
sible everywhere.  If  all  libraries,  having  available  room  for  a 
class  in  English,  and  having  foreigners  to  draw  upon,  were  to  do 
this,  a  mighty  force  to  help  the  foreigner  would  be  set  in  opera- 
tion. 

Another  need  of  the  foreigner  is  naturalization.  Thousands 
of  men  knock  at  the  door  of  citizenship,  but  they  cannot  enter, 
for  the  day  of  wholesale  manufacturing  of  alien  voters  is  past. 
Uncle  Sam  has  placed  this  privilege  within  the  sacred  precincts 
of  a  court  of  record,  where  the  feet  of  sinister  politicians  do  not 
tread.  The  alien  has  a  right  to  expect  a  helping  hand  to  secure 


246  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

his  naturalization  papers,  and  it  ought  to  be  our  privilege  to  give 
it.  In  this  work  librarians  have  helped  materially.  Indeed,  the 
teaching  of  English  and  classes  in  naturalization  are  closely  re- 
lated. Many  a  teacher  gives  his  pupils  a  knowlege  of  the  lan- 
guage by  discussing  questions  pertaining  to  the  government  of 
our  country.  Few  foreign-speaking  men  can  prepare  themselves 
for  naturalization  by  reading.  A  man  may,  in  the  quiet  of  his 
room,  answer  all  the  questions  a  judge  may  ask,  but  in  the  court 
room  he  is  confused  and  his  English  leaves  him.  Our  men  in 
weekly  classes  under  the  guidance  of  a  young  lawyer  discuss  the 
principles  of  government,  and  when  they  appear  in  court  they  are 
confident  that  they  can  pass  the  examination,  and  they  do  so  with 
a  skill  that  would  put  many  a  native-born  young  man  to  shame. 
The  foreigner  also  should  have  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of 
America,  its  resources,  its  institutions,  its  ideals,  and  an  acquaint- 
ance with  our  habits  and  customs.  Some  cities  and  towns  plan 
courses  of  lectures,  but  the  foreigner  is  not  in  the  perspective  of 
the  committee  preparing  the  program.  It  is  good  work  to  give 
English-speaking  men  in  cities  and  towns  a  glimpse  into  the  realm 
of  art  and  science,  fiction  and  poetry,  inventions  and  recent  dis- 
coveries, but  the  foreigner  ought  also  to  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion and  a  special  course  of  instruction  prepared  for  him.  In 
every  city  where  more  than  five  thousand  foreigners  live  there 
should  be  a  hall  specially  prepared  for  their  benefit  and  into 
which  they  should  be  let  on  stated  occasions.  On  the  one  side  of 
the  room  should  be  a  map  of  the  United  States  in  relief  showing 
the  cotton  belt,  the  wheat  and  corn  territories,  the  forests,  the 
fruit  gardens  of  the  nation,  our  wealth  in  cattle,  our  mineral  re- 
sources, etc.  Alongside  of  the  map  should  be  samples  of  the 
product  of  the  soil,  pictures  of  the  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills  and 
an  exhibition  of  the  productions  of  mill  and  factory.  On  the  other 
three  walls  should  be  pictures  devoted  to  history ;  the  first  would 
cover  the  period  from  the  landing  of  Columbus  to  the  struggle  for 
independence,  depicting  the  conflict  of  nations  for  a  new  world. 
The  story  of  the  pilgrim  and  cavalier,  the  records  of  red  men 
and  white  men  during  peace  and  conflict,  and  the  strong  faces 
of  brave  souls  who  laid  the  foundation  of  American  civilization. 
The  second  would  tell  of  conflict:  the  conflict  of  arms,  when 
brave  men  risked  all  in  the  fight  for  independence  and  in  the 
struggle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union ;  the  conflict  of  peace, 
when  brave  men  marched  westward  winning  an  unknown  land, 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  247 

and  never  resting  until  their  feet  touched  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  On  this  wall  should  be  the  strong  faces  of 
martyrs  in  peace  and  in  war — men  who  carried  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  from  the  Alleghenies  to  the  Cordilleras,  and  bequeathed 
to  subsequent  generations  a  continent  to  explore  and  develop. 
The  third  wall  would  depict  the  matchless  industrial  progress  of 
the  United  States:  the  railroads  that  thread  the  continent,  the 
ships  that  traverse  rivers,  lakes  and  oceans,  the  marvelous  inven- 
tions to  convert  the  ore  of  the  hills  to  finished  products,  the 
triumphs  of  engineers  and  statesmen;  and  here  also  would  be 
the  faces  of  uncrowned  kings  whose  will  was  stronger  than  iron 
and  steel  and  whose  works  bless  and  enrich  the  sons  of  men. 
Into  this  hall  the  foreigner  should  come  and  there  he  would  be 
introduced  into  the  sources  of  that  enthusiasm  that  kindles  the 
ardor  of  fifteen  million  scholars  in  our  public  schools ;  that  shone 
in  the  beacon  lights  that  led  thousands  of  warriors  to  die  for 
their  country;  and  which  today  keeps  bright  the  flame  of  patri- 
otism upon  eighteen  million  altars  in  the  homes  of  the  land.  By 
this  means  we  should  set  aglow  with  holy  ardor  the  heart  of  the 
foreigner  so  that  he  would  give  us  the  best  that  is  in  him  for 
the  land  of  his  adoption.  . 

If  there  are  any  libraries  that  will  try  this  experiment  it 
would  be  worth  while,  for  it  may  be  pioneer  work  to  be  copied 
by  cities  interested  in  the  foreigner. 

The  foreigner  also  needs  appreciation.  America  received 
much  from  the  old  world.  Each  nation  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  has  contributed  something  to  the  advancement  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  is  our  privilege  to  acknowledge  this.  It  can  be  done  by 
arranging  talks  upon  eminent  men  of  foreign  birth  in  our  own 
nation  and  also  men  in  foreign  lands  who  have  rendered  invalu- 
able service  to  humanity.  The  story  of  most  nations  is  instinct 
with  self-sacrifice  and  self-surrender;  incidents  of  heroism  and 
glorious  achievement  may  be  found  in  every  nation  represented 
in  our  immigration  streams.  If  lectures  incorporating  these  in- 
cidents were  systematically  given  the  foreigner  would  feel  better, 
his  self-respect  would  be  strengthened  and  the  son  and  daughter 
of  the  foreign-born  would  look  with  great  complacency  and  sym- 
pathy upon  the  old  folks  whose  heritage  of  heroism  and  achieve- 
ments is  by  no  means  small.  It  is  unfortunate  to  divide  foreign- 
born  families,  but  this  is  inevitable  if  we  lead  the  children  of 
foreign-born  to  a  full  appreciation  of  America  and  its  interestng 


248  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

story,  and  forget  that  God  imparts  the  stuff  of  which  heroes  are 
made  without  respect  to  nationalities. 

In  addition  to  lectures  upon  heroes  in  peace  and  war  from 
among  various  nationalities,  much  can  be  done  to  remove  preju- 
dice against  the  foreigner  if  a  wise  selection  of  books  were  made 
dealing  intelligently  and  sympathetically  with  the  question  of  im- 
migration. Books  giving  the  story  of  the  nations  from  which 
we  draw  our  immigrants  should  be  recommended  to  the  native- 
born.  There  is  no  antidote  against  prejudice  as  effective  as  in- 
timate knowledge  of  the  foreigner.  The  more  we  know  of  each 
other  the  better  we  get  along.  The  same  law  holds  true  with  the 
foreigner  the  better  we  know  him  the  less  objectionable  he  ap- 
pears, no  matter  what  nationality  he  represents. 

My  last  point  is  that  the  foreigner  must  be  touched  upon  the 
spiritual  side.  A  poem,  a  picture,  a  song  or  a  beautiful  building 
has  a  soothing  effect  upon  all  of  us ;  so  has  it  on  the  foreigner. 
These  men  who  come  from  foreign  lands,  where  song,  poetry, 
architecture  and  sculpture  are  a  part  of  their  daily  life,  are  re- 
fined, no  matter  if  they  are  unskilled  workers.  An  Italian  laborer 
bows  as  gracefully  as  a  courtier,  a  Russian  peasant  knows  how  to 
show  his  appreciation;  they  have  been  taught  gentility  in  songs 
of  the  ancients,  in  the  folklore  of  their  ancestors,  in  the  ballads 
of  their  country,  and  in  the  beautiful  temples  and  cathedrals 
hoary  with  the  weight  of  years.  This  refinement  which  sits  so 
naturally  on  the  foreign  workingman  is  worth  preserving,  and  it 
can  be  done  if,  in  every  town,  centers  of  refinement  are  estab- 
lished to  which  the  working  people  can  go. 

I  have  seen  libraries  that  have  caught  the  vision  of  beauty  and 
truth  in  their  relation  to  the  town.  It  is  expressed  as  far  as 
means  and  opportunity  allow.  A  piece  of  statuary  that  is  grace- 
ful, a  picture  that  has  harmonious  tones,  and  figures  which  are 
refined,  the  colors  on  wall  and  wood  are  quiet  and  tasty,  order 
and  cleanliness  are  apparent  on  all  sides.  No  one  can  enter  such 
a  place  without  feeling  better  for  it.  I  hope  to  see  the  day  when 
every  town  and  city  will  have  a  place  of  refinement  where  work- 
ingmen  can  see  a  beautiful  picture,  hear  a  sweet  song,  and  feel 
the  quieting,  refining  influences  of  architecture.  These  would  be 
temples  from  every  part  of  which  radiates  a  spirit  that  subdues 
the  savage  beast  in  the  human  breast,  strikes  off  the  rough  cor- 
ners of  our  coarse  nature  and  raises  the  soul  into  closer  touch 
with  the  spirit  that  reigns  and  works  for  righteousness,  peace 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  249 

and  justice  in  this  world  of  ours.  This  is  not  a  dream;  it  is 
realized  in  part  in  many  libraries,  and  may  the  day  come  when 
it  will  be  realized  more  fully  in  every  library  in  the  land. 

The    Library   Journal.      36:496.      October,    1911. 


THE  LIBRARY'S   PART   IN   MAKING 
AMERICANS 

The  present  war,  involving  the  countries  from  which  America 
derives  so  large  a  part  of  its  immigrant  population,  and  arousing 
in  this  population  such  diverse  national  sympathies  and  passions, 
brings  to  the  public  library  one  problem  with  special  emphasis 
and  directness.  Hitherto,  work  with  foreigners  has  been  largely 
a  matter  for  academic  discussion  and,  except  in  a  few  localities 
where  this  population  is  particularly  numerous  or  where  the  libra- 
rian is  particularly  interested,  it  has  been  treated  as  merely  a  side 
issue.  Some  earnest  library  workers  have  even  questioned 
whether  it  is  right  or  patriotic  to  provide  reading  for  those  who 
cannot  use  the  common  language  of  our  country.  Now  the  mat- 
ter is  no  longer  one  for  debate,  discussion  or  difference  of  opin- 
ion. To  everyone  who  loves  his  country,  one  duty  now  stands 
out  as  supreme,  to  develop  in  our  entire  population,  whatever  its 
racial  sympathies  or  whatever  its  native  tongue,  such  a  regard 
and  devotion  for  our  country  and  its  institutions  as  shall  put 
America  first  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  breathe  our  air  or  share 
in  our  common  life  and  privileges.  The  supreme  duty  of  the 
hour  for  every  American  and  every  American  institution  is  to 
cultivate,  solidif}7  and  unify  the  sentiment  of  American  patri- 
otism, to  develop  this  sentiment  to  such  a  point  that  it  shall 
assure  inner  unity  and  concord  amid  all  the  conflicting  appeals  of 
foreign  interests. 

The  task  is  a  huge  one.  There  are,  according  to  the  last  cen- 
sus, 6,646,81?  men  in  this  country,  old  enough  to  vote,  who  were 
born  in  other  lands.  These  people  constitute  twenty-five  per  cent 
of  the  whole  male  population  old  enough  to  vote,  Less  than  half 
this  number,  about  3,000,000,  are  naturalized  citizens,  three  and  a 
half  millions  are  not.  The  figures  are  startling.  Three  and  a 
half  millions  of  men,  over  twenty-one  years  old,  living  in  this 
country,  who,  whether  through  choice  or  neglect,  are  legal  sub- 
jects of  foreign  countries!  Numerous  institutions  and  civic  or- 


250  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

ganizations  have  lately  awakened  to  the  seriousness  and  possible 
dangers  of  this  situation,  and  have  started  a  nationwide  propa- 
ganda for  the  turning  of  these  aliens  into  Americans.  It  has 
already  met  with  notable  success.  With  the  great  majority  of 
these  foreigners  in  our  midst,  there  is  a  natural  predisposition  in 
favor  of  America,  making  this  propaganda  an  easy  one.  They 
are  here  because  of  this  predisposition;  the  present  state  of  the 
Old  World  gives  added  force  to  this  predisposition.  All  that  is 
needed,  in  most  cases,  is  a  quickening  of  impulse,  an  awakening 
to  the  meaning  of  citizenship  and  its  privileges,  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  things  for  which  this  country  stands,  or  a  spirit 
of  welcome  that  shall  make  them  feel  at  home  and  among  friends 
in  their  new  country.  For  the  rendering  of  this  service  we  can 
think  of  no  institution  more  peculiarly  fitted  than  the  public 
library,  and  therefore  no  institution  on  which  there  rests  a  more 
direct  responsibility.  In  the  free  public  library,  America  appears 
at  its  very  best  in  the  eyes  of  the  foreigner.  In  its  open  doors 
are  typified  all  that  he  has  come  to  America  to  seek,  opportunity, 
equality,  freedom,  the  privilege  of  entering  into  the  intellectual 
and  moral  heritage  of  the  race.  It  needs  only  to  be  true  to  its 
own  proper  spirit  and  function  and  to  make  due  provision  for  the 
part  it  is  thus  called  upon  to  play  in  this  matter  to  become  a 
powerful  factor  in  this  great  work  of  transforming  aliens  into 
loyal  and  patriotic  Americans.  The  question  is  not,  as  it  has  so 
often  been  put,  does  it  owe  the  foreigners  this  service?  The 
question  is,  does  it  owe  America  this  service?  and  to  this  ques- 
tion there  can  be  but  one  answer. 

Editorial,   New    York   Libraries.     4:235-6.     August,    1915. 


THE  HOME 

THE  IMMIGRANT  FAMILY 
BY  SOPHONISBA  P.  BRECKINRIDGE 

SOCIAL  WORKER,  LAWYER,  SECRETARY  IMMIGRANT  PROTECTIVE  LEAGUE, 

DIRECTOR   OF    SOCIAL    INVESTIGATION,    CHICAGO    SCHOOL   OF 

CIVICS  AND  PHILANTHROPY 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  community  the  immigrant  fam- 
ily presents  itself  as  the  problem  of  assimilation.  This  should 
mean  the  exercise  of  hospitality,  offering  what  we  have  of  good, 
and  asking  from  them  what  is  strong  and  vigorous  for  the  com- 
mon life.  This  is  not  the  way  in  which  it  is  always  regarded. 
We  use  the  bodily  strength  of  the  immigrants  and  transmute  it 
into  railroads  and  great  structures  of  all  kinds,  but  the  peculiar 
values  of  their  historic  background,  of  their  aspiration  .to  a 
larger  freedom,  of  their  desire  that  their  children  should  have 
nobler,  freer  lives  than  they  have  had — from  these  we  often  fail 
to  extract  any  beauty  or  grace.  We  encourage  them  to  exchange 
the  scarf  and  shawl  for  the  transfigurator  and  the  America  hat, 
and  think  we  have  assimilated  them.  We  substitute  the  moving- 
picture  show  and  the  dance  hall  for  the  village  festival  and  the 
folk  dance  and  are  not  mindful  of  the  waste  and  loss  of  it  all. 
We  have  invented  or  applied  several  devices,  especially  for  the 
service  of  children.  We  think  rightly  of  the  school  as  a  great 
Americanizing  device ;  but  we  are  learning  that  the  school  cannot 
adequately  serve  the  children  without  taking  notice  of  the  homes 
from  which  they  come.  The  school  visitor  or  the  visiting 
teacher  will  help  in  the  direction  of  interpreting  the  school  and 
the  home  to  each  other  to  their  mutual  advantage.  Other  impor- 
tant devices  are,  of  course,  the  health  department,  supplemented 
by  adequate  birth  registration,  supervision  and  control  of  mid- 
wives,  and  sanitary  inspection,  and  the  recreation  center,  equipped 
to  serve  the  social  needs  of  the  entire  family  group.  .  .  . 

But  we  may  turn  to  look  at  the  same  problem  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  family,  when  it  becomes  the  problem  of  adjust- 
ment or  of  readjusting  old  habits  and  practices  to  new  demands 


252  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

and  new  ideals.  This  must  be  at  best  full  of  hardship  and  pain. 
Strangers  in  a  strange  land,  with  language  and  customs  different, 
the  great  agony  of  home-sickness  alone  would  bind  to  the  new 
arrivals  any  heart  which  had  passed  through  the  same  kind  of  an 
uprooting.  And  to  this  suffering,  are  often  added  poverty,  ex- 
ploitation and  frequently  disaster.  Now,  most  families  succeed 
in  making  this  readjustment  and  respond  to  these  influences  of 
assimilation.  Problems  of  poverty  are  found  in  our  crowded 
foreign  neighborhood,  but  unless  they  are  complicated  by  some 
retaring  influence,  such  as  peculiarly  corrupt  political  organiza- 
tion or  a  sectarian  religious  influence  narrow  beyond  what  is 
common,  they  are  hopeful  rather  than  hopeless,  they  are  prob- 
lems connected  with  the  efforts  to  get  up  and  out  on  to  a  higher 
level  of  comfort  and  efficiency.  There  is,  however,  the  small 
number  of  immigrant  family  groups  who  are  admitted  but  de- 
ported within  three  years  of  their  arrival,  who  fail  piteously,  and 
in  connection  with  whose  difficulties,  I  believe,  social  workers 
have  not  taken  advantage  of  their  full  opportunity.  .  .  . 

The    immigrant   family    in   the   community,    but   not   of   the    community. 
Proceedings  of  the  Conference  of  Charities  and  Corrections,  p.  70-71,   1914. 


TEACHING   THE   IMMIGRANT   WOMAN 
OLIVIA  HOWARD  DUNBAR 

When  Mrs.  Annie  L.  Hansen,  under  the  direction  of  the 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants,  undertook  single- 
handed  not  long  ago  the  domestic  education  of  the  immigrant 
households  of  Buffalo,  there  was  no  cheerful  precedent  to  guide 
her.  However,  she  knew  very  well  what  she  was  about  and  was 
thoroughly  equipped  for  it,  as  domestic  educating  isn't  a  profes- 
sion that  can  be  taken  up  casually  by  women  who  have  merely 
text-book  knowledge  and  a  vague  sociological  bent.  Mrs.  Han- 
sen  had  had  training  in  two  hospitals,  had  been  both  a  private 
and  a  district  nurse,  had  kept  house  for  eleven  years,  and  had  the 
further  essential  of  a  winning  personality.  In  short,  she  was 
ready  for  practically  any  tenement  emergency.  Having  decided 
to  begin  with  the  Polish  and  Hungarian  territory,  her  first  move 
was  to  establish  friendly  co-operative  relations  with  such  schools, 
hospitals,  churches  and  charity  organizations  as  had  any  connec- 
tion with  this  district,  obtaining  from  these  various  sources  a 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  253 

list  of  families  that  because  of  poverty  or  ignorance  or  illness 
were  in  especial  need  of  the  kind  of  help  it  was  her  vocation  to 
give.  She  then  set  out  to  make  her  first  tentative  round  of  visits. 

Of  course  they  were  not  easy  visits  to  make.  Well-dressed 
strangers  of  competent  air  so  seldom  knocked  at  those  shabby 
doors,  there  seemed  no  reason  for  believing  that  one  of  them 
had  actually  come  with  simple,  neighborly  intent!  In  a  few 
cases,  it  is  true,  the  women  were  perceptive  enough  to  be  in- 
stantly friendly  and  grateful.  Others  were,  quite  naturally,  se- 
cretive and  suspicious.  One  or  two  were  openly  hostile;  even, 
through  their  narrowly  opened  doorways,  fluently  vituperative. 
But  the  second  visit  dispelled  all  suspicion,  and  the  third  often 
established  an  almost  disconcerting  intimacy.  This  was  obvi- 
ously because  Mrs.  Hansen  did  not  limit  herself  to  pointing  out 
the  women's  mistakes  and  giving  them  advice.  On  the  contrary, 
this  is  what  she  did : 

At  her  first  visit  she  would  find,  perhaps,  clustering  about  an 
anxious,  harried  mother,  a  group  including  a  pallid  baby  and  four 
or  five  anaemic,  listless  brothers  and  sisters.  Sympathetic  ques- 
tioning would  reveal  that  the  unhappy  mother  was  utterly  at  a 
loss  as  to  how  to  feed  her  brood  in  this  strange  country,  where 
meat  was  so  costly  and  grocers'  food  didn't  agree  with  the  chil- 
dren and  nothing  was  as  it  had  been  at  home.  But  what  did 
they  eat — milk?  Yes,  canned  milk,  from  the  grocer.  Bread? 
Yes,  from  the  baker ;  small  loaf,  that  cost  too  much  and  was  too 
soon  eaten.  Soup?  Yes,  canned  soup;  sometimes  very  poor. 

Noting  these  points  and  finding  that  every  woman  she  visited 
made  practically  the  same  confession,  Mrs.  Hansen  would  make 
her  second  visit  armed  with  packages  of  cereals.  The  Polish 
mother  would  shake  here  head  with  dismal  scepticism  at  the  sight 
of  this  odd,  dry,  uninteresting-looking  food.  Nevertheless  she 
watched  and  wondered  and  learned  as  she  was  shown  with  hovo 
little  trouble  and  at  what  small  cost  this  new  substance  could  be 
served  as  a  palatable  and  nourishing  meal,  sure  to  make  pale 
children  healthy  and  strong  if  they  ate  enough  of  it. 

But  dietetic  reform  did  not  stop  here.  Every  mother  was 
willing  to  admit  that  her  baby  was  the  most  important  member 
of  the  family.  But  in  that  case,  she  was  told,  the  question  of  its 
diet  should  come  first  of  household  considerations,  and  the  funda- 
mental truth  was  taught  her  that  babies  can  not  live  on  "canned" 
milk.  Fresh  milk  was  shortly  insinuated  in  its  stead  in  every 


254  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

household  where  there  was  a  young  child,  and  in  as  many  others 
as  possible.  The  extravagance  and  folly  of  buying  baker's  bread 
was  next  taken  up,  but  not  without  at  the  same  time  teaching 
the  women  to  make  their  own  bread.  The  value  and  economy  of 
substantial  homemade  soups  and  stews  were  learned  with  sur- 
prising readiness. 

As  the  lessons  progressed  various  pleasant  things  came  to 
pass.  The  encouraged  mothers  grew  cheerful  as  their  languid 
babies  learned  to  smile.  The  cereal  and  soup  fed  children  throve. 
Where  mere  fault-finding  would  have  shad  no  result,  practical 
demonstrations,  carefully  adapted  to  the  woman's  comprehension, 
captivated  and  entranced.  Not  only  did  the  pupil  herself  take 
great  pride  in  preparing  a  new  dish,  but  neighbors,  friends  and 
cousins  sprang  up  in  great  numbers  to  share  in  the  new  and  ex- 
citing domestic  gospel.  A  certain  Ruthenian  woman  proved  so 
teachable  that  she  rapidly  passed  the  elementary  stage,  and  one 
Saturday  a  patient  Educator  (the  staff  had  shortly  been  increased 
to  four)  called  to  help  her  prepare  for  Sunday  some  simple  em- 
bellishments of  the  austere  diet  that  had  prevailed  through  the 
week.  Dropping  in  on  Monday  to  see  whether  the  husband  and 
children  had  enjoyed  their  simple  treat,  she  found,  to  her  amaze- 
ment that  the  tenement  was  swarming  with  neighbors,  all  de- 
lightedly and  noisily  engaged  in  eating  up  the  remains  of  Sun- 
day's carnival  of  sponge  cake,  coffee  bread  and  raised  biscuit. 
Nor  did  she  escape  without  promising  to  visit  each  insistent  guest 
at  her  own  home  and  teach  her  to  construct  these  delicate 
marvels  for  herself. 

In  the  matter  of  clothing  the  women  were  equally  ignorant 
and  equally  teachable.  The  mothers  were  sincere  in  protesting 
that  they  would  be  glad  to  make  cheap,  simple  garments  for 
themselves  and  their  children  if  they  only  knew  how.  In  these 
cases  they  were  supplied  with  a  pattern  and  enough  material  for 
one  garment  and  given  one  or  more  lessons  in  cutting,  fitting  and 
fashioning  it.  These  lessons,  like  those  in  cooking,  proved  to 
have  an  irresistible  fascination  for  whole  communities.  The  Ed- 
ucator who  had  charge  of  the  Italian  district  found  that  if  she 
made  an  appointment  with  one  ambitious  Italian  housewife  to  cut 
and  fit  a  skirt,  a  relative  would  appear  within  five  minutes  with  a 
piece  of  white  cloth  that  she  must  be  shown  how  to  convert  into 
a  shirtwaist,  while  at  more  or  less  regular  intervals  during  the 
afternoon  neighbors  with  soft,  persuasive  voices  and  bewitching 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  255 

Italian  smiles  would  present  themselves  with  their  individual 
bundles  and  the  entreaty,  "Oh,  please,  missis,  me,  too !"  And  as 
she  left  the  house,  the  exhausting  but  profitable  session  finally 
concluded,  still  other  candidates  for  instruction  would  pounce 
eagerly  from  dark  doorways  to  accost  the  "teacher"  and  gain  her 
promise  of  help. 

Very  often  first  acquaintance  with  a  family  would  disclose 
cases  of  defective  vision  or  of  adenoids,  which  were  attended  to 
with  beneficient  despatch.  Or  an  ailing  husband  in  need  of  specific 
treatment  would  be  marched  off  to  the  dispensary  and  given  the 
necessary  medicine,  so  that  he  could  shortly  get  back  to  work. 
Or  a  sick  child,  lying  in  bed,  would  be  feverish  and  fretful  for 
lack  of  simple  attentions. 

The  opportunity  would  be  seized  to  teach  the  mother  how  to 
bath  the  child  gently  without  disturbing  it,  and  she  would 
further  be  persuaded  to  give  it  clean  linen  and  to  leave  the  win- 
dow open.  Such  lessons  as  these  were  naturally  less  popular. 
While  it  may  be  easy  to  interest  untaught  but  strongly  prejudiced 
women  in  cooking  and  sewing,  it  is  never  anything  short  of  a 
heroic  labor,  as  all  missionaries  to  the  poor  have  discovered,  to 
reconcile  them  to  water  and  air. 

One  Polish  woman  confessed  that  she  had  never  used  soap  on 
her  six-year-old  boy,  as,  because  of  some  temperamental  sensi- 
tiveness in  which  she  displayed  a  certain  pride,  he  was  afraid  of 
water. 

Once  a  week,  therefore,  she  had  washed  his  hands,  conscien- 
tiously stopping  at  the  wrists,  and  then  rolled  the  rest  of  him  in 
a  wet  blanket !  And  a  family  that  had  been  brought  to  the  radi- 
cal extreme  of  leaving  a  window  open  while  sleeping  complained 
persistently  of  the  "draught"  until  the  Educator  herself  oblig- 
ingly nailed  a  board  on  the  window- frame  in  such  fashion  that 
the  air  reached  the  sleepers  indirectly. 

In  fact,  it  has  not  been  an  easy  matter  to  convert  whole  house- 
holds to  habits  of  cleanliness  and  hygiene.  Poverty,  unrepaired 
tenements,  lack  of  social  stimulus,  are  all  profoundly  discourag- 
ing factors.  However,  because  of  its  importance  the  Educators 
worked  hard  at  this  reform.  Some  women  mended  their  ways 
when  at  last  they  were  made  to  understand  the  reasons  for  it. 
Others  seemed  hopelessly  slovenly.  Among  these  was  an  Italian 
woman,  notoriously  shiftless  and  unclean,  and  long  the  despair  of 
various  philanthropic  agencies.  One  interview  between  this 


256  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

woman  and  the  undiscouraged  Educator  took  place  in  the  pres- 
ence of  her  husband.  "Why  do  you  bother  my  wife?"  remarked 
this  lenient  and  philosophic  consort.  "Some  people  are  born 
clean  and  some  dirty,  and  my  wife  was  born  dirty.  She's  happy, 
so  why  bother  her?" 

The  incredible  sequel  of  this  episode  is  that  because  of  per- 
sonal help  and  constant  encouragement  on  the  part  of  the  Ed- 
ucator, this  woman  has  now  a  clean  and  wholesome  home  in 
which  she  takes  a  naive  pride.  Indeed,  she  was  so  pleased  with 
her  own  advancement  that  she  allowed  the  Educator  to  hold  a 
class  in  her  home,  where  little  girls  and  sometimes  their  mothers 
were  taught  bed-making  and  all  kinds  of  household  work. 

These  classes  of  young  girls,  which  have  been  held  regularly 
in  all  the  districts,  are  considered  a  highly  important  branch  of 
the  work.  The  workers  find  that  all  the  instruction  given  the 
girls  is  carried  directly  home  to  the  mothers  and  then  applied  by 
both.  Young  girls  from  twelve  to  fifteen  are  taught  how  to 
make  their  own  garments,  an  art  that  interests  them  no  less  than 
it  does  their  mothers.  They  are  also  given  frank  and  emphatic 
lessons  in  personal  hygiene,  rank  after  rank  of  them  becoming 
speedy  and  delighted  converts  to  the  toothbrush,  to  frequent 
bathing,  and  to  fresh  air. 

They  are  also  taught  the  danger  of  coffee-drinking,  and  what 
constitutes  wholesome  food.  The  Educators  make  a  strong  ap- 
peal to  these  young  creatures  by  reminding  them  that  they  all 
wish  to  have  beautiful  faces,  clear  skins,  and  happy  tempers  in 
order  to  be  well  loved  and  have  happy  homes  later  on.  It  is  then 
pointed  out  how  these  desirable  things  may  be  secured,  and  the 
information  is  of  course  received  and  applied  with  the  greatest 
eagerness. 

Harper's  Bazaar.     47:277-8.     June,   1913. 

DOMESTIC  EDUCATION  AMONG 
IMMIGRANTS 

NORTH  AMERICAN  Civic  LEAGUE  FOR  IMMIGRANTS 

"Domestic  Education"  is  the  term  applied  to  a  new  experi- 
ment in  education  which  has  been  made  during  the  past  year  by 
the  New  York-New  Jersey  Committee  of  the  North  American 
Civic  League  for  Immigrants. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  257 

This  committee  was  organized  in  December,  1909,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  developing  permanent  city,  state  and  federal  policies  re- 
garding conditions  created  by  present  immigration.  Its  experi- 
ments are  made  in  the  two  states  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
these  experiments  being  turned  over  to  the  responsible  agency, 
whether  private  enterprise,  city,  state  or  federal  department,  as 
soon  as  a  successful  policy  of  meeting  conditions  has  been 
demonstrated. 

With  one  million  immigrants  a  year  arriving  in  the  United 
States,  650,000  coming  through  the  port  of  New  York,  and  over 
300,000  a  year  locating  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  the  neces- 
sity of  definite  systems  of  protection,  education,  distribution  and 
assimilation  are  only  too  obvious. 

Educational  systems  to  fit  the  needs  of  the  newly  arrived,  ig- 
norant and  illiterate  immigrant  become  as  essential  a  part  of  the 
educational  policies  of  city,  state  and  country  as  educational  sys- 
tems to  meet  the  needs  of  the  native-born. 

One  of  the  most  important  educational  experiments  which  the 
New  York-New  Jersey  Committee  of  the  North  American  Civic 
League  for  Immigrants  has  made  is  Domestic  Education.  This 
is  an  experiment  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  public  schools 
with  consecutive,  constructive  educational  work  in  the  homes. 
The  great  majority  of  alien  children,  and  children  of  alien  pa- 
rents, leave  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  The  boys  have  re- 
ceived practically  no  training  in  civics  and  understand  little  or 
nothing  of  their  responsibility  to  the  community.  The  girls  have 
received  practically  no  training  in  the  vital  things  of  life.  Girls 
of  foreign  nationalities  marry  at  the  age  of  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen,  wholly  unequipped  for  the  problems  before  them. 

The  argument  that  "our  hope  is  in  the  rising  generation" 
loses  its  force  when  we  see  all  about  us  evidence  that  the  "rising 
generation"  is  bringing  forth  a  weaker  generation  than  the  pres- 
ent generation.  The  immigrant  mothers  and  fathers  know  noth- 
ing of  American  standards  of  living  and  have  little  opportunity 
(the  mothers,  the  home-makers,  much  less  than  the  fathers)  of 
coming  in  contact  with  American  standards,  living  as  they  do  in 
foreign  colonies,  speaking  their  own  language,  and  living  accord- 
ing to  their  'own  standards.  They  know  little  or  nothing  of  the 
conditions  and  temptations  to  which  their  boys  and  girls  are  ex- 
posed in  their  new  surroundings. 

A  little  over  a  year  ago  the  New  York-New  Jersey  Commit- 


258  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

tee  of  the  North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants  started 
in  Buffalo,  New  York,  its  experiment  in  Domestic  Education, 
and  since  that  time  has  extended  the  experiment  to  New  York 
City  and  Rochester;  to  Mineville,  a  mining  community  of  3,000 
people ;  to  Barren  Island,  New  York,  an  industrial  community  of 
1,400  people;  a  cannery  camp  at  Albion,  New  York,  and  an  aque- 
duct labor  camp  at  Valhalla,  thus  including  three  distinct  types 
of  cities  and  four  distinct  types  of  isolated  communities. 

The  requirements  which  the  League  demands  regarding  train- 
ing of  a  Domestic  Educator  are  that  she  shall  have  had  a  good 
English  education,  nursing  training,  domestic-science  training, 
and  social  experience.  The  Domestic  Educator  first  makes  a 
general  survey  of  her  community;  a  group  of  thirty  to  forty 
families  most  needing  education  is  selected,  the  work  is  tactfully 
explained  to  them,  and  definite  consecutive  education  is  started. 
The  instruction  given  is  in — 

I. st.  Ventilation — the  value  of  fresh  air  in  its  relation  to 
health. 

2d.  Sanitation — the  importance  of  keeping  drain-pipes  clear, 
toilets  clean,  and  disposal  of  garbage  and  flies. 

3d.  Care  and  feeding  of  babies,  including  instruction  in  pre- 
natal care. 

4th.     Hygiene — personal  and  sex  hygiene. 

5th.  Household  Economics — economical  purchase  and  prep- 
aration of  food;  improving  appearance  and  comfort  of  home. 

6th.  Advice  in  regard  to  educational,  recreational  and  social 
facilities  of  the  community. 

The  work  is  undertaken  slowly,  the  instruction  given  almost 
entirely  by  demonstration,  and  the  reasons  for  following  instruc- 
tions are  always  carefully  explained.  As  the  work  progresses 
classes  in  cooking,  sewing,  treatment  of  common  illnesses,  mar- 
keting, etc.,  are  organized.  Public  schools  are  used  when  pos- 
sible for  the  classes. 

Harptr't   B tutor.     47:278.     June,    1913. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  259 

HOUSING  AND  AMERICANIZATION 

MORRIS  KNOWLES 

Americanization  is  more  a  psychological  process  than  a  phys- 
ical one.  And  yet  everyone  knows  how  powerfully  his  mental 
state  is  affected  by  physical  condition  and  surroundings.  An  old 
Roman  proverb  reminds  us  that  a  healthy  mind  and  spirit  can 
reside  permanently  only  in  a  sound  body ;  and  the  maxim  is  no 
less  true  when  we  extend  the  meaning  of  "body"  to  include  the 
whole  physical  environment. 

The  evil  environment  set  up  by  bad  housing  requires  no  dem- 
onstration here.  The  time  has  passed  when  it  will  be  disputed 
that  bad  housing  injures  both  personal  and  public  health;  that 
overcrowding  and  lack  of  privacy  lead  to  immorality;  that  the 
employee  can  bring  vitality  and  enthusiasm  to  his  work  only  when 
he  comes  from  decent  home  conditions ;  that  contentment  is  pos- 
sible only  when  leisure  hours  can  be  spent  in  healthful  recrea- 
tion, free  from  evil  temptation ;  and  that  civic  spirit  and  loyalty 
to  community,  state  and  nation  can  be  cultivated  only  in  happy 
homes  and  pleasant  environment.  The  relation  of  housing  to 
Americanization,  therefore,  is  apparent.  Decent  homes  are  a 
prime  necessity  as  a  physical  basis  for  the  development  of  Amer- 
ican ideals  in  the  immigrant  who  comes  to  our  shores. 

Housing  problems,  of  course,  become  more  serious  in  propor- 
tion as  concentration  of  population  increases.  The  tendency  of 
recent  years  toward  combination  of  industries  into  large  units, 
the  resultant  concentration  of  great  numbers  of  employees  and 
their  families  within  small  areas,  and  the  growth  of  immigration 
have  therefore  given  especial  importance  to  the  influence  of  hous- 
ing on  Americanization.  The  same  conditions,  moreover,  have 
imposed  an  especial  obligation  upon  the  employer,  somewhat  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  his  organization.  His  enterprise  and 
the  accumulation  of  capital  under  his  direction  have  collected  a 
great  aggregation  of  people,  with  all  their  human  needs  and  as- 
pirations, perhaps  from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  How  then  can  he 
avoid  his  responsibility  to  them  to  make  possible  normal,  healthy 
living  in  the  new  conditions  in  which  they  find  themselves ;  and 
his  duty  to  the  state  to  provide  an  environment  suitable  for  the 
development  of  x\merican  ideals  and  the  cultivation  of  com- 
munity pride  and  civic  responsibility? 


26o  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

Formerly,  the  employer  excused  himself  for  failing  to  fulfill 
these  obligations  on  the  ground  that  it  was  impossible  to  provide 
better  housing  for  immigrants  because  of  their  lack  of  apprecia- 
tion of  such  facilities ;  or  that  the  expense  would  be  prohibitive. 
But  the  ancient  legend  of  the  "bathtub-filled-with-coal"  is  now 
seldom  heard.  Many  realize  that,  on  the  contrary,  immigrants 
can  frequently  assimilate  American  standards  faster  than  we 
realize,  and  that  the  untidiness  in  which  we  find  them  living  is 
more  often  the  result  of  hopeless  despair  after  a  vain  struggle 
with  the  wretched  facilities  we  have  provided  than  the  expression 
of  a  lack  of  desire  for  better  things. 

Even  more  thoroughly  has  the  "prohibitive-expense"  fallacy 
been  exploded,  for  it  is  now  seen  not  only  that  the  cost  is  repaid, 
but  that  a  substantial  balance  of  profit  on  good  housing  results 
from  decrease  of  lost  time  due  to  illness;  improvement  of  effi- 
ciency through  increase  of  contentment;  securing  of  pick  of 
labor  force;  a  more  stable  organization  free  from  disruption  by 
casual  labor  and,  by  the  necessity  of  continually  training  new 
men;  and  generally,  more  satisfactory  relations  with  employees 
and  relief  from  industrial  strife. 

Moreover,  when  maintenance  cost  and  total  annual  expense 
are  taken  into  consideration,  the  additional  cost  of  sanitary 
dwellings,  above  that  of  unsatisfactory  un-American  accommoda- 
tions, is  in  itself  slight. 

Immigrants  in  America  Review.     2:45-6.     July,    1916. 


NATURALIZATION 


AMERICANIZATION    DAY 

Frederic  C.  Howe,  Commissioner  of  Immigration  at  Ellis 
Island,  addressed  this  letter  to  the  mayors  of  American  cities : 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
Immigration  Service 

Office  of 

Commissioner  of  Immigration, 
Ellis  Island,   New  York  Harbor,   N.  Y. 

May  22nd,  1915. 
My  dear  Sir: 

You  may  be  interested  in  learning  of  a  most  significant  civic 
demonstration  that  may  be  of  value  to  you  in  connection  with 
the  Fourth  of  July  celebration  in  your  city.  I  refer  to  the  "Cit- 
izenship Reception,"  or  "New  Voters'  Day"  which  the  cities  of 
Philadelphia,  Cleveland,  Baltimore  and  Los  Angeles  have  recently 
held  as  a  final  step  in  the  naturalization  of  foreign-born  aliens. 

Each  year  large  numbers  of  aliens  are  admitted  to  citizenship. 
The  procedure  for  the  most  part  is  informal,  and  is  attended 
with  no  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  community  of  its  sig- 
nificance to  America  and  to  the  alien.  The  purpose  of  the  re- 
ception is  to  give  dignity  to  the  ceremony  and  at  the  same  time 
impress  its  meaning  upon  all  citizens. 

The  idea  arose  in  Cleveland  in  1914  when  the  "Sane  Fourth 
Committee"  assumed  the  responsibility  for  a  program  arranged 
by  a  committee  representing  all  local  patriotic  and  civic  organiza- 
tions. Through  the  clerks  of  naturalization,  the  names  and  ad- 
dresses of  all  aliens  admitted  to  citizenship  during  the  preceding 
year  were  secured,  and  invitations  for  the  reception  were  sent  to 
each.  At  the  reception  each  new  citizen  on  entering  the  audi- 
torium and  showing  his  ticket  was  presented  with  a  small  Amer- 
ican flag  and  also  a  seal  button  of  the  city  with  the  word 
"Citizen"  upon  it.  A  platform  decorated  with  the  flags  of  all  na- 
tions was  reserved  to  seat  the  new  citizens.  The  audience  itself 


262  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

was  secured  by  general  publicity  through  the  newspapers,  which 
gladly  gave  publicity  to  the  idea.  The  program  opened  with  na- 
tional airs.  This  was  followed  with  the  unfurling  of  a  large 
American  flag,  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner"  being  sung  and  the 
"Pledge  of  Allegiance"  being  recited  in  unison.  Officials  repre- 
senting the  nation,  state  and  city  made  addresses,  followed  by  a 
speech  of  appreciation  by  one  of  the  prominent  foreign-born  cit- 
izens. 

The  significance  of  such  receptions  given  on  the  Fourth  of 
July  is  obvious.  Should  they  become  national  in  scope,  they 
should  have  great  civic  value.  I  am  sending  you  this  informa- 
tion with  the  thought  that  you  may  desire  to  appoint  a  Mayor's 
Committee  for  the  organization  of  such  a  reception  in  your  city 
in  connection  with  whatever  exercise  may  be  held  on  the  Fourth 
of  July. 

There  will  be  a  "National  Americanization  Day  Committee," 
which  will  furnish  information  and  answer  inquiries.  I  would 
appreciate  having  from  you  an  expression  of  your  ideas  on  this 
subject. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)  FREDERIC  C.  HOWE, 

Commissioner. 


THE    MEANING    OF    CITIZENSHIP 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  NEW  CITIZENS 
MAY  7,  1915 

WILLIAM  B.  WILSON 

SECRETARY  OF  LABOR 

It  is  now  about  eight  and  a  half  years  since  the  Division  of 
Naturalization — now  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization — of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  was  formed.  During  that  time  nearly  2,000,000 
aliens  have  received  their  naturalization  papers.  Within  the  past 
three  or  four  months  the  Federal  and  State  courts  in  your  city 
have  admitted  3,900.  I  want  to  take  this  opportunity  of  ex- 
pressing my  appreciation  of  the  efficient  manner  in  which  these 
courts  have  handled  the  great  task  which  has  confronted  them. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  '  263 

I  congratulate  you  who  are  newly  naturalized  upon  having 
attained  the  honor  of  American  citizenship.  In  the  course  of 
your  lifetime  greater  distinctions  may  come  to  you  in  the  various 
activities  in  which  you  are  engaged,  but  no  greater  honor  can 
ever  be  yours  than  that  of  being  a  part  ruler  of  the  greatest  Re- 
public that  it  has  pleased  God  to  establish  on  earth.  It  should 
never  be  forgotten  that  the  man  who  accepts  citizenship  in  our 
country  accepts  with  it  his  share  of  the  responsibility  for  its 
proper  direction  and  control.  At  this  moment,  when  so  many 
other  nations  are  engaged  in  armed  conflict  and  their  passions 
have  been  stirred  to  such  an  extent  that  an  appeal  to  their  judicial 
sense  of  the  rights  of  others  is  impossible,  the  greatest  responsi- 
bility that  rests  upon  our  citizenship,  new  and  old,  is  to  keep  a 
cool  head  and  a  clear  vision.  Our  passions  must  not  be  permitted 
to  obscure  or  dethrone  our  reason.  If  we  can  with  honor  avoid 
sacrificing  our  people  and  our  property  to  the  demons  of  war, 
we  shall  have  performed  a  great  service  to  humanity  and  shall 
be  in  a  better  position  to  help  bind  the  wounds  of  those  stricken 
nations  when  the  time  conies  to  urge  the  claims  of  peace. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  lays  down  the  fundamental 
principles  upon  which  our  Government  is  formed  when  it  de- 
clares:  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  That  all  men 
are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  unalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that  to  secure  these  rights  governments 
are  instituted  among  men  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed."  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
fathers  were  dealing  not  with  the  question  of  human  capacity 
but  with  the  question  of  human  rights.  And  no  matter  how 
weak  a  man  may  be  mentally,  physically,  or  financially,  his  rights 
are  equal  to  those  of  the  most  powerful  of  men. 

Our  Government  is  built  upon  the  theory  that  it  derives  its 
just  power  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  therein  rests 
your  great  responsibility.  It  is  not  enough  to  acquire  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  our  Constitution  and  forms  of  civil  government  to 
satisfy  the  court  of  your  qualifications  for  admission  into  the 
great  body  of  citizenship.  That  is  only  the  beginning.  You 
should  not  only  understand  the  Constitution  in  a  general  way, 
but  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  brought  into  existence ;  and  you 
should  aspire  to  the  highest  ideals  attainable  under  it.  Many  of 
you  come  from  countries  having  no  written  constitution,  nothing 


264  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

in  the  way  of  government  that  interferes  with  the  will  of  the 
monarch  or  of  the  majority  in  congress  immediately  becoming 
law.  And  you  may  wonder  at  times  why  it  is  that  our  written 
Constitution  makes  it  impossible  for  mere  majorities  of  our  Con- 
gress or  legislative  bodies  to  do  certain  things.  Let  me  tell  you 
why  by  citing  the  first  amendment  to  the  Constitution.  It 
declares : 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  people 
peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a  re- 
dress of  grievances. 

In  that  article  is  embodied  the  essence  of  why  the  founders 
of  our  Government  laid  down  some  fundamental  principles  in 
the  form  of  a  Constitution  that  could  not  be  changed  by  the  mere 
will  of  a  majority.  There  are  certain  rights  that  belong  to 
minorities.  No  majority  has  the  right  to  enforce  its  will  concern- 
ing religion  upon  any  man.  That  is  a  matter  which  must  rest 
with  the  individual  and  his  God.  No  majority  has  the  right  to 
abridge  the  freedom  of  speech  of  the  minority  or  of  the  individual, 
although  it  has  the  right  to  hold  him  responsible  for  any  abuse  of 
that  right  when  exercised  by  him.  And  if  at  any  time  you  are 
prone  to  chafe  because  some  conditions  which  you  believe  to  be 
wrong  can  not  be  righted  as  speedily  as  you  would  wish  because 
the  Constitution  stands  in  the  way,  remember  that  the  same  docu- 
ment also  safeguards  in  the  same  way  those  human  rights  the  ex- 
ercise of  which  has  made  our  country  a  model  for  all  the  earth. 

Within  the  limits  of  our  constitutions — Federal,  State,  and 
municipal — is  found  the  opportunity  for  the  development  of  the 
highest  civilization  that  has  ever  existed  amongst  men,  not  be- 
cause of  our  great  economic  opportunities,  not  because  the  poor- 
est may  aspire  to  the  acquisition  of  great  wealth,  but  because  we 
have  the  privilege  of  working  out  the  relation  of  man  to  man  on 
the  principle  of  fair  play  even  to  the  weakest  and  most  insignifi- 
cant of  our  people.  That  wrongs  exist  arid  will  continue  to  exist 
is  to  be  expected  in  human  institutions.  It  is  easy  to  point  out  a 
wrong.  It  is  an  entirely  different  matter  to  discover  a  workable 
remedy  for  that  wrong.  One  of  the  responsibilities  that  will  rest 
upon  you  as  citizens  is  to  discover  and  put  into  operation  prac- 
tical remedies  for  any  wrongs  that  may  exist.  In  that  respect 
the  most  valuable  citizen  is  the  practical  idealist.  Sentiment  has 
been  a  great  factor  in  human  progress.  Men  will  do  more  for  a 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  265 

sentiment  than  they  will  for  all  the  wealth  of  the  world.  From 
time  immemorial  men  have  been  willing  to  sacrifice  their  lives 
in  support  of  their  ideals.  It  was  not  the  paltry  wages  that  the 
soldiers  received  in  the  Revolutionary  War  that  caused  them  to 
endure  the  many  years  of  privation  and  suffering,  the  hardships 
in  the  camp,  and  the  possibility  of  death  upon  the  field  in  order 
that  a  government  "of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people" 
might  be  established  on  earth.  It  was  not  the  dollars  that  the 
soldiers  of  either  side  were  paid  during  our  Civil  War  that  caused 
them  to  leave  their  homes  and  their  loved  ones  and  lay  down 
their  lives,  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes  or  the 
Bonnie  Blue  Flag.  In  each  case  it  was  the  sentiment  behind  an 
ideal  that  spurred  them  on  to  the  sacrifice.  The  true  patriot, 
the  man  who  loves  the  country  of  his  adoption,  must  be  willing 
and  ready  to  subordinate  himself  and  his  individual  interests  for 
the  general  welfare  with  the  same  ready  devotion  in  times  of 
peace  as  that  which  prompts  him  in  times  of  war. 

Those  who  have  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  can  have  no  dual  allegiance.  Like  you,  Mr.  Mayor,  and 
the  guests  in  this  audience,  I  am  one  of  those  who  were  born 
abroad  and  have  sworn  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  I  love 
its  institutions,  I  believe  in  its  form  of  government,  I  glory  in 
what  it  has  achieved  in  the  past  and  dream  of  still  greater 
achievements  for  the  future.  Like  everyone  here,  I  love  the  land 
of  my  birth,  but  if  I  loved  it  more  or  as  much  as  I  love  the  land 
of  my  adoption  I  should  not  be  here.  I  would  return  whence  I 
came.  I  believe  you  are  imbued  with  the  same  sentiment.  You 
have  broken  home  ties  around  which  have  been  woven  the  history 
and  traditions  of  centuries.  You  have  cast  your  lot  with  a  great 
Republic,  in  which  the  voice  of  the  people  is  supreme.  You  have 
assumed  your  share  of  its  responsibilities.  You  have  become  a 
part  of  the  United  States  Government.  You  have  a  voice  in  its 
affairs  and  also  in  the  affairs  of  the  State  and  of  the  city.  And 
now,  if  you  exercise  that  voice  properly,  if  you  aspire  to  the 
highest  ideals,  if  you  are  moved  by  the  noblest  sentiments,  if  you 
are  guided  by  sound  judgment  and  an  honest  purpose,  you  can 
help  to  make  and  to  keep  this  country  of  ours  great  and  still 
greater.  And,  what  is  more  to  be  desired  even  than  greatness, 
you  can  help  to  make  it  and  keep  it  the  best  the  purest,  the 
noblest  nation  on  earth. 

From    Official  Report  to  the   Secretary  of  Labor. 


266  RACE-ASSIMILATION 


THE   NATURALIZATION   RECEPTION, 
PHILADELPHIA,   MAY   10,    1915 

RICHARD  K.  CAMPBELL 

COMMISSIONER    OF     NATURALIZATION,     UNITED     STATES     DEPARTMENT 

OF  LABOR 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1914,  upon  my  recommendation, 
the  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Naturalization  proceeded  to  Phila- 
delphia upon  official  business,  and  while  there  discovered  that 
in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  United  States  district  court  there 
were  from  5,000  to  6,000  applications  of  aliens  resident  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  to  file  petitions  for  naturalization. 
He  at  once  brought  this  condition  of  affairs  to  the  attention  of 
the  court  and  proffered  the  assistance  of  the  bureau  to  relieve  the 
congestion. 

This  proffer  was  immediately  accepted  by  the  court,  and  upon 
presentation  to  the  Secretary  of  Labor  received  his  hearty  in- 
dorsement. 

Accordingly,  acting  under  authority  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor, 
the  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Naturalization  with  a  corps  of  ex- 
perienced members  of  the  personnel  of  the  Bureau  of  Naturaliza- 
tion from  Washington,  in  November,  1914,  undertook  the  work 
in  the  United  States  district  court  in  Philadelphia,  with  the  re- 
sult that  3,940  petitions  for  naturalization  were  filed  during  the 
following  seven  weeks. 

On  December  18,  1914,  at  a  conference  called  by  the  judges  of 
the  United  States  circuit  court  of  appeals  and  the  United  States 
district  court,  the  Deputy  Commissioner  proposed  the  holding 
of  a  public  reception  by  the  city  of  Philadelphia  to  the  candidates 
who  should  be  admitted  to  citizenship  upon  the  hearing  by  the 
court  of  their  petitions,  which  were  then  being  filed  by  the 
special  force  under  his  direction.  This  proposition,  meeting  with 
the  approval  of  the  judges,  was  presented  to  the  Secretary  of 
Labor  and  indorsed  by  him. 

Acting  under  the  authority  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor  the 
Deputy  Commissioner  of  Naturalization  presented  the  project  to 
the  Hon.  Rudolph  Blankenburg,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  immediately  adopted  the  proposal  and  arranged 
through  the  Secretary  of  Labor  for  a  delegation  to  wait  upon  the 
President  with  an  invitation  to  attend  the  reception. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  267 

The  hearings  of  the  petitions  for  naturalization  were  held  in 
the  United  States  district  court,  the  Hon.  John  B.  McPherson, 
Judge  of  the  United  States  circuit  court  of  appeals,  presiding 
throughout  all  of  the  sessions,  which  extended  in  three  periods 
from  March  22  to  and  including  May  7,  1915. 

On  May  10,  1915,  in  the  Municipal  Convention  Hall  in  Phila- 
delphia, in  the  presence  of  the  newly  naturalized  citizens,  their 
wives  and  children  who  derived  citizenship  through  the  naturaliza- 
tion of  the  husbands  and  fathers — in  all  representing  approx- 
imately 8,500  accessions  to  the  citizenship  of  the  country — and 
the  invited  guests,  aggregating  an  assemblage  of  approximately 
18,000  impressive  ceremonies  were  conducted. 

These  ceremonies  consisted  of  patriotic  addresses  by  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States ;  the  Hon.  Rudolph  Blankenburg, 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia;  the  Hon.  William  B.  Wilson, 
Secretary  of  Labor;  and  the  Hon.  Joseph  Buffington,  dean  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  for  the  Third  Circuit, 
and  the  singing  of  national  anthems  by  the  assemblage  led  by  a 
trained  chorus  of  approximately  4,000  voices  with  orchestra  ac- 
companiment furnished  by  the  police  band  of  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia. These  impressive  ceremonies  were  opened  with  an  invo- 
cation by  the  Rev.  Henry  N.  Coudert,  Chaplain  of  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives.  The  addresses  as  delivered 
upon  the  occasion  follow  herein  in  the  order  in  which  they  were 
given  in  the  program. 

This  reception  was  a  memorable  one  and  the  sentiments  ex- 
pressed on  that  occasion  will  have  a  far-reaching  effect  in  the 
accomplishment  of  the  highest  ideals  in  the  administration  of 
the  naturalization  law  throughout  the  United  States,  and  in 
the  attainment  of  the  ends  towards  which  the  Bureau  of 
Naturalization  and  the  entire  judiciary  of  the  United  States  are 
striving. 

From  Official  Report  to  the  Secretary  of  Labor. 


268  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

NATURALIZING  THE   ALIEN 
RAYMOND  F.  CRIST 

DEPUTY    COMMISSIONER 

BUREAU    OF    NATURALIZATION,    UNITED    STATES    DEPARTMENT 
OF  LABOR 

It  was  an  innovation  in  naturalization  practice  for  an  officer 
of  the  government  to  rise  in  a  naturalization  court  and  object  to 
the  conferring  of  citizenship  upon  an  alien  who  was  not  qualified 
to  assume  with  any  degree  of  intelligence  the  responsibilities  of 
American  citizenship.  The  voice  of  the  government  has  been 
raised,  however,  in  objection,  through  the  naturalization  exam- 
iner, with  such  effect  that  over  74,000  applicants  have  been  re- 
fused citizen's  papers  out  of  the  594,967  petitions  for  citizenship 
heard. 

The  habits  of  men  are  strong,  and,  notwithstanding  the  as- 
sumption of  federal  supervision  over  the  naturalization  laws, 
many  organizations  persisted  in  inducing,  for  purely  selfish  rea- 
sons, the  unsuspecting  and  accommodating  alien  to  accept  the 
title.  This  influence  was  exerted  almost  invariably  just  preceding 
the  holding  of  an  election  in  any  part  of  the  country,  and  was 
attempted  after  the  government  undertook  the  supervision  of  the 
naturalization  law. 

Notwithstanding  this  seeming  restriction  of  naturalization,  the 
administrative  policy  has  always  been  to  facilitate  the  admission 
to  citizenship  in  conformity  with  the  legal  requirements,  of  all 
qualified  candidates.  Conferences  were  held  by  the  naturaliza- 
tion examiners  with  the  naturalization  judges  and  the  public 
school  authorities  and  as  a  direct  result  evening  classes  called 
"citizenship  classes"  were  organized  in  the  public  schools  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country,  and  the  naturalization  courts  directed 
the  unprepared  candidates  to  attend  these  classes  before  their 
petitions  would  be  favorably  heard.  Public  spirited  and  patriotic 
societies  also  organized  and  maintained  classes  at  their  own  ex- 
pense in  many  parts  of  the  country,  notably  in  Philadelphia, 
Rochester,  Buffalo,  St.  Louis,  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  Detroit, 
Cleveland,  Chicago,  Kansas  City,  Seattle,  Minneapolis  and  Los 
Angeles.  Celebrations  were  held  in  furtherance  of  this  great 
work  under  the  inspiration  of  the  schools  and  of  patriotic  and 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  269 

civic  organizations  in  Brockton,  Mass.,  Rochester,  New  Bedford, 
Mass.,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  Rock  Island,  111.,  Los  Angeles,  Phila- 
delphia and  many  other  places.  There  were  celebrations  by  the 
courts  in  many  places  as  early  as  1907  when  addresses  on  citizen- 
ship were  delivered  by  the  court,  and  by  others,  upon  the  invita- 
tion of  the  court.  In  some  cities  receptions  are  regularly  held  to 
the  incoming  candidates.  By  far  the  most  important  of  all  these 
receptions  to  the  newly-naturalized  citizens,  and  the  one  carrying 
a  national  influence,  was  the  gathering  in  Philadelphia  on  May 
10,  1915,  at  which  the  President  addressed  an  assembly  of  over 
19,000  citizens.  Within  two  weeks  there  was  launched  a  •  move- 
ment for  the  holding  of  similar  receptions  in  all  of  the  cities  of 
the  United  States,  and  "Americanization  Day"  was  proposed.  An 
Americanization  Day  Committee  was  formed,  and  celebrations 
were  held  quite  generally  throughout  the  United  States  on  last 
Independence  Day.  Today,  the  nation  is  aroused  to  the  neces- 
sity for  the  Americanization  of  the  entire  populace,  including 
those  born  in  this  land,  as  well  as  those  born  in  any  other  country 
of  the  globe. 

During  1913  and  1914  plans  were  formulated  which  led  to  a 
survey  of  the  schools  by  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization.  This 
showed  that  the  public  school  authorities  were  all  most  anxious 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  non-English-speaking  foreigner,  but 
their  equipment  was  found  to  be  wholly  inadequate.  In  May  last, 
the  Bureau  announced  its  intention  to  secure  nation-wide  co- 
operation of  the  public  school  system  as  an  aid  in  inculcating 
doctrines  of  patriotism  in  the  minds  of  the  candidates  for  citi- 
zenship. Today,  this  cooperation  is  a  working  reality  in  nearly 
600  cities  and  towns  in  forty-three  of  the  States  of  the  Union, 
and  embraces  almost  every  community  with  a  foreign  population. 
The  Bureau  has  perfected  a  system  of  personal  contact  with  the 
entire  resident  alien  body,  through  the  public  schools,  by  which 
not  only  the  candidates  for  citizenship,  but  the  immigrants  as 
well,  are  being  brought  into  the  public  schools.  It  has  perfected 
a  course  of  instruction  in  citizenship,  which  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  public  school  teachers. 

The  course  is  not  for  the  sole  purpose  of  enabling  the  candi- 
date to  "answer  the  questions  in  court,"  nor  to  cover  him  with 
a  veneer  of  American  citizenship,  but  it  is  fundamental  in  its 
purpose  and  is  based  upon  the  two  years  which  the  candidate  must 
await  after  he  declares  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen  before  he 


270  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

may  be  vested  with  that  state  by  the  court.  The  first  year  is 
devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  a  mastery  of  reading,  writing  and 
speaking  in  our  tongue.  The  second  year  is  devoted  to  a  thor- 
ough, practical  training  in  citizenship  responsibilities.  Under 
this  course,  the  mayor  of  the  city,  the  alderman,  or  councilmen, 
the  heads  of  the  various  city  departments — police  department,  the 
health  department,  the  fire  department  and  others,  the  city  and 
national  legislators,  will  come  before  the  assembled  student  body 
and  each  tell  of  the  duties  of  his  particular  office.  After  each  of 
these  officials  has  appeared,  the  class  is  required  to  discuss,  de- 
liberate and  debate  the  duties  told  to  them,  so  as  to  insure  perma- 
nently fixing  them  in  their  minds.  The  sanctity  of  the  franchise 
and  purity  of  the  ballot  are  clearly  established  in  their  minds. 
They  are  then  required  to  perform  all  of  the  duties  of  the  Amer- 
ican citizen,  to  nominate,  electioneer  for,  and  elect  a  mayor  and 
other  officials  of  the  city  government,  to  formulate  rules  to 
govern  themselves  in  the  schools,  in  their  places  of  employment, 
on  the  streets  and  in  their  homes,  and  rules  of  sanitation  and  to 
enforce  these  rules.  The  election  of  a  presiding  officer  will  in- 
augurate the  breaking  down  of  the  lines  of  national  prejudice 
in  the  student  body  and  lay  the  basis  for  their  unification  and 
Americanization. 

To  bring  the  candidates  for  citizenship  to  the  schools,  the 
Bureau  sends  letters  to  them  and  their  wives,  inviting  them  to 
attend  the  schools,  and  points  out  the  material  advantages  which 
will  accrue  to  them. 

The  native-born  American  needs  to  feel  the  leavening  influ- 
ence of  Americanization  as  surely  as  the  alien  uninformed  of  our 
institutions  needs  to  have  his  capacity  developed  to  enable  him 
to  understand  them  and  choose  whether  he  will  accept  and  dedi- 
cate his  life  to  them,  or  continue  his  allegiance  to  the  sovereign 
of  his  nativity.  Neither  native  nor  foreign-born  residents  can  be 
forced  to  feel  the  love  of  country.  The  lack  of  a  sense  of  devo- 
tion to  country  is  chargeable  solely  to  ignorance  where  those  in- 
stitutions are  for  the  universal  and  individual  well  being.  If  any- 
one is  to  pin  his  faith  to  our  governmental  institutions  and  con- 
tinue loyal  to  them,  he  must  clearly  know  what  they  are.  A  large 
body  of  educators  believe  that  the  only  means  by  which  our  in- 
stitutions of  government  can  be  taught  to  the  non-English-speak- 
ing residents  is  through  the  agency  of  their  compatriot  who 
speaks  their  foreign  tongue.  That  they  are  wrong  will  be  dis- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  271 

covered  by  a  survey  of  the  public  schools  such  as  has  been  made 
by  the  writer.  The  American  school  teacher  can  transform  the 
individual  into  a  faithful,  loyal  and  devoted  American  by  the 
scores  while  the  "educators"  may  be  searching  for  the  foreign- 
born  linguist  who  is  qualified  to  teach  American  patriotism.  The 
linguistic  qualification  is  more  than  apt  to  perpetuate  the  national 
groupings  of  foreign-born  citizens  than  to  effect  their  American- 
ization. 

Nation' t  Business.     4:No.   2,   part    i,    16-17.      February,    1916. 


AMERICAN    CITIZENSHIP 

ADDRESS,   MAY   10,    IQI5 

JOSEPH  BUFFINGTON 

JUDGE,  UNITED  STATES  CIRCUIT  COURT  OF  APPEALS,  THIRD  DISTRICT 

During  the  past  twenty-odd  years  it  has  been  part  of  my 
judicial  duty  to  sign  the  judicial  decrees  giving  to  thousands  of 
men  of  foreign  birth  the  boon  of  American  citizenship.  It  is  a 
work  that  has  deeply  interested  me.  I  have  mingled  with  these 
men,  and  by  knowing  them  have  learned  to  know  their  worth 
And  this  knowledge  warrants  me  to-night,  Mr.  President,  when 
you  have  come  to  dignify  the  admission  of  4,000  of  these  to  citi- 
zenship, in  saying  they  are  worthy  of  your  coming,  for  has  it  not 
been  well  said: 

But  there  is  neither  east  nor  west, 
Border  nor  breed  nor  birth, 

When  two  strong  men  stand  face  to  face, 

Tho'  they  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth! 
Now,  if  you  should  chance  some  evening,  Mr.  Mayor,  when 
sitting  in  your  library  to  take  from  your  shelves  Watson's  Annals 
— that  time-worn  volume  dear  to  the  Philadelphia  heart — you 
may  read  how,  in  1679,  three  years  before  Penn  came  to  found 
our  goodly  Province,  a  few  English  emigrants  preceded  him  and 
landed  12  miles  below  where  we  meet  to-night,  at  what  was  then 
Swedish  Upland  but  is  now  the  city  of  Chester.  These  English 
pioneers  of  Pennsylvania  colonization  found  the  west  bank  of  the 
Delaware  already  held  by  Swedes  and  Hollanders.  It  is  well, 
therefore,  Mr.  Mayor,  for  those  of  us  of  American  birth,  of 
English  speech,  and  Pennsylvania  heritage,  to  remember  that  it 
was  men  and  women  of  alien  tongue  and  race  that  stood  on  the 


272  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

west  shore  of  the  Delaware  and  welcomed  our  English  forbears 
to  Pennsylvania  soil.  And  so  it  has  come  about,  sir,  that  when 
these  foreign-born  men  of  the  twentieth  century  come  before  the 
court  for  the  fellowship  of  American  citizenship,  I  am  led  to 
recall  that  when  in  that  same  year  there  was  born  to  one  of  that 
English-speaking  pioneer  emigrant  band  a  little  son  it  was  the 
foreign  speech  of  Swedish  and  Holland  women  that  welcomed 
the  little  Richard  Buffington  to  his  Pennsylvania  heritage  as  the 
first-born  child  of  English  descent  in  the  Province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Three  years  later,  when  William  Penn  aboard  the  good  ship 
Welcome  sailed  up  the  Delaware,  he  found  the  same  alien-speech 
welcome  awaiting  him.  He  recognized  the  right  of  these  Swed- 
ish and  Holland  folk  to  stay  and  share  in  the  new  colony,  and 
recognized  what  was  then  new  on  American  soil,  namely,  the 
right  of  other  races  besides  his  own  to  come  thereafter.  For 
Penn  was  the  pioneer  in  that  varied  race  colonization  that  made 
Pennsylvania  from  the  start  the  great  race-blending  colony,  that 
gave  her  a  race  catholicity  different  from  all  of  her  sister  colo- 
nies. As  you  recall  the  story  of  the  other  12  colonies  they  were 
each  founded  on  one  race  and  one  religion.  But  with  Penn  came 
the  dawning  of  that  new  spirit  of  race  and  religious  catholicity 
which  is  the  real  basis  of  true  Americanism.  And  I  venture  to 
here  say  that  when  the  true  story  of  colonial  founders  shall  be 
written  over  and  above  all  colonial  founders  in  breadth  of  vision, 
in  toleration,  in  race  and  religious  catholicity  will  tower  William 
Penn.  For,  mark  you,  he  founded  his  colony  not  for  the  advan- 
tage of  his  own  race  or  those  of  his  own  faith,  but  that  in  Penn's 
land  every  race  and  every  faith  might  equally  share  in  liberty, 
life,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  And  in  that  Province — where 
the  Declaration,  the  Constitution,  and  the  flag  were  later  born— 
the  real  germ  of  genuine  Americanism,  namely,  a  self-govern- 
ment, based  on  governing  self  so  as  to  insure  the  rights  of  others 
as  well  as  their  own,  was  born.  Thus  it  came  about,  that  with 
the  peopling  of  Pennsylvania  began  a  varied  race  trekking  that 
marked  no  other  colony.  For  200  years  this  composite  race 
intermingling  has  gone  on,  and  to-day  22  per  cent  of  all  for- 
eigners coming  to  the  United  States  make  Pennsylvania  their 
home.  The  foreign  problem  is  no  new  question  for  Pennsylvania. 
It  is  as  old  as  our  Commonwealth.  We  are  not  affrighted  by  it. 
We  know  that  three-fourths  of  these  emigrants  were  farm  bom ; 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  273 

that  they  go  to  congested  cities  not  because  they  want  to  but  be- 
cause they  have  to ;  and  we  know  that  farm-bred  men  can  in  the 
long  run  be  intrusted  with  upholding  the  stability  of  a  nation. 
It  is  fitting,  therefore,  that  the  inauguration  of  this  great  patri- 
otic foreign-welcoming  movement,  honored  for  the  first  time 
by  the  coming  of  a  President,  should  take  place  on  Pennsylvania 
soil  and  in  a  great  city  whose  proof  of  its  friendly  regard  for 
the  foreign  born  is  that  you,  Mr.  Mayor,  and  two  of  its  former 
mayors  came  to  Philadelphia  as  immigrant  boys. 

At  risk,  sir,  of  trespassing  on  the  wishes  of  this  great  audi- 
ence, eager  to  hear  the  President,  let  me  say  a  few  words  of 
brotherly  counsel  to  these  men  whose  departing  alien  past  to- 
night merges  into  a  new  born  American  future. 

And  the  first  thought  I  give  them  as  to  the  foundation  of  their 
new  citizenship  is  that  over  and  above  all  other  American  citizen- 
ship their  American  citizenship  is  based  on  law.  And  by  that  I 
mean  this:  If  you  look  at  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  you 
will  find  that  the  seventh  ground  in  order  on  which  we  based 
our  right  to  rebel  against  King  George  of  England  was  because 
"He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  States ; 
for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  laws  of  naturalization  for  for- 
eigners; refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  migration 
hither,"  etc.  If  you  will  look  at  the  Constitution,  you  will  find  it 
gave  Congress  the  power  "To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  nat- 
uralization." 

In  pursuance  of  these  rights  and  provisions  their  American 
citizenship  is  granted  to  the  foreign  born  by  lavj,  it  is  evidenced 
by  a  decree  made  by  court  of  law,  and  is  recorded  for  them  in 
the  records  kept  by  the  law.  And  so  it  comes  about  that  the 
foreign-born  man's  citizenship  is  what  I  may  call  a  law  right  as 
distinguished  from  that,  for  example,  of  the  President,  whose 
citizenship  is  one  of  birth  right.  Now,  I  venture  to  say  that  even 
if  our  President  were  called  upon  to  prove  his  birthright  as  an 
American  citizen  he  would  have  some  trouble  to  do  so.  He  has 
not  at  hand  the  incontestable  proof  of  a  law  decree  which  once 
and  for  all  time  adjudged  you  foreign-born  men  to  be  lawful 
citizens ;  he  can  not  turn  to  any  recorded  decree  which  settles 
and  evidences  his  citizenship.  Such  being  the  case,  the  foreign- 
born  citizen,  being  made  a  citizen  under  and  by  the  law,  it  seems 
to  me  that  you,  as  law-made  Americans,  have,  if  anything,  an 
even  higher  duty  than  we  who  are  native  born,  to  respect,  to  sup- 


274  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

port,  to  uphold  the  law  which  conferred  citizenship  upon  you. 
The  law  is  the  ladder  by  which  you  have  mounted  to  citizenship. 
If,  therefore,  at  any  time  questions  arise  as  to  what  your  course 
should  be,  where  your  influence  should  be  cast,  in  what  way  you 
should  lead  and  influence  your  fellow  countrymen,  I  want  you 
to  bear  in  mind  that  your  citizenship  is  based  on  law,  your  coun- 
try on  order,  and  that  unless  law  and  order  stand  American 
citizenship  can  not  stand ;  for  American  citizenship  depends  on 
every  American  citizen  standing  for  law  and  order. 

Now,  the  good  mayor  has  spoken  to-night  most  feelingly  of 
how  you  all,  just  as  he,  have  loved  your  several  fatherlands,  and 
most  patriotically  of  how  he  and  you  have  renounced  for  all  time 
his  and  your  allegiance  to  the  birth  land  of  the  past  and  taken  a 
solemn  oath  that  henceforth  your  allegiance  was  on  this,  not  on 
the  other  side  of  the  sea.  But  I  want  to  go  further  and  say  that 
oath  goes  further.  It  binds  you  to  support  and  defend  the  coun- 
try's Constitution  and  laws  against  all  enemies,  foreign  and  do- 
mestic. Now  we  all  know  what  foreign  enemies  of  our  country 
might  be — though  God  grant  that  with  charity  for  all  and  malice 
toward  none  we  may  deserve  and  have  none — but  I  beg  of  you 
to  remember  that  our  country  may  have  domestic  enemies — ene- 
mies within  our  own  country,  enemies  in  her  own  citizenship — 
against  whom  she  demands  that  you  should  protect  her,  her  Con- 
stitution, and  her  laws.  Who  are  these  domestic  enemies  ?  How 
shall  they  be  known?  Fellow  Americans,  you  can  depend  on  this, 
that  any  man,  or  any  organization,  or  any  publication,  or  any 
interest,  or  any  influence  that  attempts  to  undermine  your  loyal, 
whole-hearted  citizenship ;  that  encourages  you  to  break  and  dis- 
obey her  laws ;  that  would  change  the  citizenship  of  law  and 
order  for  one  of  anarchy  and  disorder,  to  one  of  hate  and  vio- 
lence; that  would  lead  you  to  believe  that  American  citizenship 
can  be  a  race  citizenship,  or  a  religious  citizenship,  or  a  class 
citizenship,  or  a  rich  citizenship,  or  a  poor  citizenship,  or  indeed 
that  there  is  any  other  kind  of  American  citizenship  than  the 
genuine  old-fashioned  American  citizenship  that  sees  but  one  flag, 
knows  but  one  people,  and  feels  that  every  other  man  has  the 
very  same  equal  right  to  his  life,  to  his  liberty,  and  to  his  pursuit 
of  happiness  that  we  demand  for  ourselves.  The  citizenship  that 
demands  more  for  myself  than  I  am  willing  to  grant  to  my  fel- 
low citizen  is  not  American  citizenship ;  it  is  a  domestic  enemy 
against  which  our  country  would  have  us  guard  ourselves  as  truly 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  275 

as  against  a  foreign  one.  And  you  can  depend  upon  it  that  any- 
one, or  any  influence,  tending  to  make  your  citizenship  an  un- 
happy one  by  poisoning  your  mind  with  envy,  ill  will,  bitterness 
against  your  country,  against  her  institutions,  her  laws,  or 
against  any  portion  or  class  or  mass  of  her  citizens  and  your 
fellow  citizens,  is  an  enemy  not  only  of  yours,  but  of  your  coun- 
try. For  this  country,  as  its  foundations  testify,  was  created  that 
«ach  citizen  might  be  aided  by  his  fellows,  and  he  aid  his  fellows, 
in  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

I  beg  of  you,  therefore,  to  yourselves  learn  and  teach  your 
children  the  spirit  of  building  up,  not  of  tearing  down,  your 
country,  its  citizens,  and  its  citizenship.  This  Nation  was  built 
by  building  up ;  it  was  not  built  by  tearing  down.  Our  flag  was 
made  by  sewing  its  stripes  together,  not  by  tearing  them  apart; 
by  sewings  stars  on,  not  by  ripping  them  off  its  field  of  blue. 
And  that  flag  waves  to  lead  us  on  so  long  only  as  willing  hands 
hold  it  up.  And  it  is  in  this  helpful  spirit — helpful  to  home,  to 
school,  to  church,  to  neighbors,  to  country — you  should  start  out 
to  claim  a  helpful,  hopeful,  and  happy  American  citizenship  for 
yourselves.  For,  added  to  law  and  order,  I  want  you  to  remem- 
ber that  on  those  great  factors  the  home,  the  school,  the  church, 
the  future  of  our  country  bottoms.  These  are  the  things  that 
have  made  America  the  country  to  which  you  wanted  to  come, 
and  it  is  your  duty  to  help  in  upholding  them.  Make  every  effort 
to  keep  your  children  in  the  schools.  Stand  by  the  school- 
teacher. Teach  your  child  to  honor  and  respect  the  teacher,  for 
you  can  no  more  afford  to  undermine  the  teacher  in  your  child's 
eyes  than  you  would  stand  for  the  teacher  undermining  the 
parent  in  the  child's  regard.  And  just  now  I  want  to  say  that, 
in  my  judgment,  there  is  no  more  patriotic,  far-reaching  work 
being  done  in  our  country  to-day  than  in  the  Americanization  of 
our  foreign-born  children  through  the  quiet,  faithful,  day-in-and- 
day-out  work  of  our  school-teachers.  The  school  is  America's 
method  of  reaching  the  foreign-born  adult  through  his  Amer- 
ican-taught child.  I  know  whereof  I  speak  in  that  regard.  The  8 
or  10  year  old  child  of  the  incoming  foreigner  becomes  in  a 
couple  of  months,  through  the  school-teacher,  the  dominant 
factor  in  the  foreign  home.  Through  its  rapid  gaining  of  Eng- 
lish that  child  becomes  the  sole  means  of  communication  for  that 
family  with  the  outside  world,  and  through  that  child  to  the 
measure  that  American  patriotism,  American  institutions,  Amer- 


276  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

ican  justice,  and  American  life  are  embodied  in  that  teacher,  are 
they  carried  into  that  home.  And  no  one  who  visits  on  patri- 
otic holiday  our  schools  in  neighborhoods  where  the  foreign-born 
children  predominate  can  feel  aught  but  a  deep  assurance  of  the 
safety  of  our  country's  future  when  he  sees  the  outward  and 
visible  signs  of  an  inward  and  spiritual  patriotism  the  American 
school-teacher  is  implanting  in  these  foreign-born  children,  eager 
to  become  American  in  every  way,  to  salute  and  revere  its  flag, 
to  learn  its  history  and  the  story  of  its  great  founders  and  patri- 
ots. Let  the  theorist  who  does  not  know  the  foreign  born,  but 
who  bewails  the  evils  of  foreign  immigration,  ask  the  school- 
teacher about  the  problem.  His  eyes  will  be  opened.  The  truth 
is  we  Americans  have  not  gotten  into  touch  in  our  citizenship,  in 
our  churches,  in  any  practical  way  with  the  foreign  born.  Apart 
from  the  school-teacher  for  the  foreign-born  child,  we  as  native- 
born  Americans  have  largely  relegated  intercourse  with  the  for- 
eign born  to  the  saloon  keeper,  the  padrone,  the  foreign-born 
anarchist,  and  the  native-born  demagogue. 

As  an  earnest  that  we  native-born  Americans  are  in  the  future 
to  be  more  in  sympathy  with  our  foreign-born  fellow  Americans 
I  take  it,  Mr.  President,  that  the  example  you  have  set  by  coming 
here  to-night  will  set  many  a  thoughtless  American  to  thinking 
it  is  high  time  he  too  should  get  to  know  some  foreign-born 
fellow  citizens.  I  have  spoken  of  the  school ;  let  me  add  a  word 
as  to  the  church.  This  Nation  is  a  God-respecting  and  God- 
worshiping  Nation.  If  the  church,  if  religion,  were  taken  away, 
this  Nation  could  not  stand.  Stand  for  them,  therefore,  and  for 
all  that  tends  to  the  upholding  of  the  home  and  its  influence. 
Statistics  show  a  wonderfully  wide  owning  of  their  own  homes 
by  the  foreign  born.  From  figures  kept  by  the  late  clerk  of  our 
Federal  court  at  Pittsburg  I  was  surprised  to  find  how  many 
foreign  men  had  bought  homes,  how  many  had  money  in  savings 
banks.  Remember  the  worth  of  what  you  earn  is  measured  by 
what  you  save,  and  here  let  me  add  that  you  will  find  that  as  a 
savings  bank  your  wife  can  beat  a  saloon  keeper.  And  this  leads 
me  to  say  a  closing  word  about  the  foreign-born  woman,  your 
wife,  your  sister,  your  mother.  You  go  out  among  your  fellow 
men  and  you  get  more  or  less  in  touch  with  American  life ;  your 
women  stay  at  home  and  are  almost  wholly  out  of  touch  with 
American  life  and  out  of  touch  with  American  sisterhood.  Until 
American  women  wake  up  to  this  fact  and  get  into  sympathetic 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  277 

touch  through  church,  patriotic  society,  settlement  and  social 
work,  and  the  like  with  your  women,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
your  duty  to  do  everything  in  your  power  for  your  own  women. 
American  men  believe  in  good  women.  There  is  no  country 
where  women  are  as  highly  regarded  as  here  in  America.  The  real 
woman,  the  womanly  woman,  the  mother,  the  wife,  the  sister, 
the  daughter,  has  the  highest  and  best  place  in  the  American 
man's  regard,  and  we  want  that  you  in  your  attitude  toward  wo- 
men should  get  that  true  American  ideal  that  a  good  woman  is 
not  your  inferior,  is  not  your  equal,  but  is  something  far  above 
you  men,  as  every  man  knows  whose  life,  character,  and  family 
have  been  molded  by  the  priceless  blessing  of  a  good  mother,  a 
loyal  sister,  a  true  wife. 

And  now  a  closing  thought  on  the  final  measure  of  your  citi- 
zenship. The  genius  of  our  country  is  self-government.  But 
self-government  does  not  mean  selfish  government.  In  the  final 
analysis  it  means  government  of  self,  so  that  my  fellow  citizen 
shall  have  his  rights  as  well  as  I.  Where  each  man  by  governing 
himself  insures  equal  rights  to  his  fellow  men,  there  and  there 
alone  we  have  the  fulfillment  to  its  depth  of  those  immortal  but 
often  misunderstood  words,  "A  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people." 

Proceedings;  Naturalisation  Reception.  Government  Printing  Office, 
1915- 

THE   NATIONAL   CONFERENCE   ON 
IMMIGRATION   AND  AMERICANIZATION 

The  first  National  Conference  on  Immigration  and  American- 
ization was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  January.  It  was  organized 
by  the  National  Americanization  Committee,  in  order  to  call  to- 
gether organizations  doing  practical  work  among  immigrants  and 
all  agencies  in  the  country  interested  in  the  assimilation  of  immi- 
grants into  American  social,  industrial  and  civic  life.  *  *  * 

The  Conference  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  on  Wednesday  and 
Thursday,  January  19  and  20,  1917.  The  first  session  consisted 
of  the  opening  of  an  art  exhibit  at  Memorial  Hall  showing  the 
contribution  of  foreign-born  races  to  art  in  America. 

At  a  dinner  on  January  19,  addresses  were  made  by  Mr. 
Frank  Trumbull,  Chairman  of  the  National  Americanization 
Committee;  Governor  Brumbaugh,  S.  Stanwood  Menken,  Felix 
M.  Warburg  and  Mary  Antin. 


278  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

John  Price  Jackson,  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  Pennsylvania, 
spoke  briefly  of  the  need  of  Americanization  work  in  the  indus- 
trial communities  of  Pennsylvania,  and  H.  H.  Wheaton  of  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Education  in  a  talk  accompanied  by  slides, 
showed  the  number  of  foreign-born  in  Pennsylvania,  the  num- 
ber of  foreign-born  illiterates,  the  small  percentage  of  the  non- 
English-speaking  that  attend  night  school,  and  the  comparatively 
small  percentage  of  the  foreign-born  men  of  voting  age  who  are 
naturalized. 

On  Thursday,  January  20,  there  were  four  sessions  of  the 
Conference  all  of  which  were  open  to  the  public.  The  morning 
and  afternoon  sessions  were  held  in  the  ballroom  of  the  Belle- 
vue-Stratford  and  were  each  attended  by  about  1,300  persons. 

There  were  411  official  delegates  in  attendance  at  the  Confer- 
ence representing  commercial,  economic,  civic,  religious,  educa- 
tional racial,  industrial  and  patriotic  societies,  and  Federal  and 
state  and  city  departments. 

The  morning  session,  at  which  Judge  Goodwin,  of  Chicago, 
presided,  was  taken  up  chiefly  by  reports  of  various  organiza- 
tions and  in  the  discussion  of  methods  and  objects  in  the  prac- 
tical work  of  educating  immigrants  in  the  English  language, 
citizenship  and  American  standards  of  living.  After  an  address 
by  H.  H.  Wheaton  on  the  scope  of  Americanization  work,  five- 
minute  speeches  were  given  by  representatives  of  different  or- 
ganizations. These  speakers  included.  Albert  Shiels,  of  the  De- 
partment of  Education,  New  York  City,  on  "The  Public  School 
and  the  Immigrant";  Robert  Bliss,  of  the  American  Library 
Commission,  "The  Public  Library  and  the  Immigrant" ;  Peter 
Roberts,  of  the  International  Committee,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  on  "The 
Immigration  Work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.";  Carter  D.  Keene,  Di- 
rector of  the  Division  of  Postal  Savings,  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment; Dr.  Jane  E.  Robbins,  of  the  Jacob  Riis  Settlement,  New 
York  City,  who  urged  the  wives  and  sisters  of  employers  to  see 
that  immigrant  workmen  received  fair  wages;  Louis  Bremer, 
National  Council,  Y.  M.  H.  A.;  Dr.  Sidney  L.  Gulick,  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America;  Mrs. 
Marian  K.  Clark,  of  the  Bureau  of  Industries  and  Immigration, 
New  York  State;  Bernard  J.  Rothwell,  of  the  Massachusetts 
Commission  of  Immigration;  Dante  Barton,  who  represented 
Frank  P.  Walsh,  of  the  Committee  on  Industrial  Relations,  and 
others.  Mr.  Barton  read  a  letter  from  Mr.  Walsh  to  the  Com- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  279 

mittee,  attacking  the  sincerity  of  the  Americanization  movement, 
and  claiming  that  it  was  directed  only  toward  the  perpetuation  of 
the  present  economic  system,  because  the  Committee  was  not 
working  through  labor  unions  and  urging  immigrants  to  join 
such  unions. 

At  the  luncheon  of  delegates,  at  which  Miss  Kellor  presided, 
addresses  were  made  by  Commissioner  Jackson,  Mr.  John  Fahey, 
President  of  the  United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce;  Mrs. 
Bremer,  of  the  National  Young  Women's  Christian  Association, 
and  Mrs.  Simkovitch,  of  Greenwich  House. 

The  afternoon  session  was  addressed  by  various  immigration 
experts  and  economists  on  general  immigration  subjects.  Louis 
F.  Post,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  who 
discussed  the  part  which  the  Department  of  Labor  could  take  in 
the  work  of  Americanization,  presided  at  the  meeting.  The 
speakers  included  Dr.  P.  P.  Claxton,  Federal  Commissioner  of 
Education,  who  spoke  on  "A  National  Policy  of  Immigrant  Ed- 
ucation" ;  Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson,  on  "The  Immigrant  and  Pub- 
lic Health" ;  Mrs.  Percy  Pennypacker,  President  of  the  General 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  on  "The  Americanization  of 
Women" ;  John  H.  Fahey,  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  the  United  States,  on  "The  National  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Americanization" ;  Prof.  Edmund  von  Mach,  on 
"Atoms  or  Creators";  Father  Wastl,  on  "The  Co-operation  of 
the  Catholic  Church  in  Americanization  Work";  Grace  Abbott, 
of  the  Immigrants'  Protective  League,  Chicago,  on  "The  Best 
Methods  of  Co-operation  in  Americanization  Work,"  and  Mary 
Antin  on  "Americanization  as  a  Mutual  Process." 

The  most  significant  results  of  the  Conference  are  that  for 
the  first  time  philanthropic  business,  civic  and  educational  organ- 
izations were  brought  together  to  discuss  Americanization  as  it 
affects  them  all;  that  Americanization  was  recognized  as  a  na- 
tional movement  and  responded,  requiring  national  standards; 
and  that  one  and  all,  organizations  governmental  and  private,  of 
all  kinds  and  all  creeds,  and  of  varying  methods  of  work,  pledged 
themselves  to  co-operate  in  carrying  out  Americanization  as  a 
national  work. 

Immigrants  in  America  Review.     2:38-46.     April,   1916. 


280  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

THE   SONG  OF  THE   FOREIGN-BORN 
DENIS  A.  MCCARTHY 

O  land  of  all  lands  first  and  best 

We  pledge  our  love  for  thee. 
Whate'er  the  faith  our  sires  confessed, 

Whate'er  our  blood  may  be; 
Whate'er  the  shrine  at  which  we  bow, 

To-day,  dear  land,  we  blend 
Our  hearts  and  voices  in  the  vow 

To  love  thee  to  the  end. 

O  land  of  all  lands  first  and  best, 

Wide  open  hast  thou  flung 
The  gates  to  greet  men  sore  oppressed 

Of  every  race  and  tongue. 
And  surely  they  who  know  thy  hand 

And  all  the  gifts  it  bears 
Will  never  flout  the  gen'rous  land 

That  shelters  them  and  theirs. 

O  land  of  all  lands  first  and  best,, 

Come  peace  or  conflict  dread, 
Thy  sons  will  bravely  bear  the  test, 

Wherever  born  or  bred. 
Old  racial  cries,  old  racial  ties, 

For  them  will  cease  to  be, 
And,  over  all,  the  thought  will  rise 

Of  thee  and  only  thee ! 

From     Heart     Songs    and     Home     Songs,     pp.     12-13.      Boston.      Little, 
Brown  &  Company.      1916. 


LIVING  CONDITIONS 

AMERICANIZING   BARREN    ISLAND 

JOSEPH  MAYPER 

An  immigrant  family  occupying  five  rooms  keeps  eighteen 
boarders— and  more  or  less  boarders  are  kept  by  every  family  in 
the  community.  Garbage  reduction  plants  provide  employment, 
and,  working  in  day  and  night  shifts,  the  boarders  are  compelled, 
on  account  of  the  congested  quarters,  to  occupy  the  same  beds 
day  and  night.  In  the  interior  of  the  houses  dirt  and  filth  are 
the  rule  and  windows  are  nailed  down.  Hardworking  men  and 
women,  finding  no  wholesome  form  of  recreation,  indulge  in 
drink  to  while  the  idle  hours  away.  The  resulting  drunken 
brawls  and  racial  squabbles  draw  the  attention  of  listening  chil- 
dren and  the  vile  language  they  hear  is  soon  effectively  used  in 
their  own  innocent  quarrels.  The  foul  odors  of  the  garbage 
plants,  the  enervating  physical  labor,  the  constant  indulgence  in 
alcohol,  the  unventilated  and  congested  sleeping  quarters  and  the 
total  lack  of  bathing  facilities  are  reflected  in  the  sickly  pallor  on 
the  faces  of  the  men,  women  and  children. 

Births  are  plentiful  in  this  immigrant  community,  but  mothers 
do  not  know  how  to  care  for  infants  under  the  new  climatic  con- 
ditions and  are  careless  in  the  preparation  and  modification  of 
foods.  An  increased  infant  mortality  is  therefore  reported.  In- 
dustrial accidents  are  of  frequent  occurrence  here,  but  with  no 
local  hospital  or  dispensary  and  no  resident  physician,  medical 
treatment  is  delayed — sometimes  with  fatal  results.  Women  and 
children  spend  every  spare  moment  on  the  "dump,"  and  the 
feverish  search  for  "treasure"  is  responsible  for  diseased  bodies, 
dirty  homes,  neglected  children,  illiteracy  and  drunkenness. 

The  houses,  badly  in  need  of  repair,  are  built  on  a  filled-in 
creek,  have  damp  cellars  and  are  dimly  lighted  by  kerosene  oil 
lamps.  Rickety  fences  made  of  old  doors,  tin  sheets  and  dis- 
carded bed  springs  enclose  each  house  and  yard.  Garbage  and 
refuse  are  strewn  about  and  dirty  pools  of  water  stagnate  in  the 
yards  and  alleys  which  are  literally  covered  with  tumble-down 
wood  sheds,  chicken  coops  and  dog  kennels.  The  insanitary  open 


282  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

privy  vaults  are  dirty  and  foul  and  are  seldom  cleaned.  The 
water  supply  is  inadequate  for  either  domestic  or  fire  fighting 
uses.  The  food  offered  for  sale  in  the  little  supply  stores  is  ex- 
posed to  disease-carrying  flies. 

The  depressing  effect  of  the  gray,  cheerless  environment  is 
reflected  in  all  the  community  relationships.  Over  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  adults  are  unable  to  speak  English,  and  very  few  of 
those  eligible  have  applied  for  citizenship — yet  many  of  them 
have  been  here  for  a  number  of  years.  Indifference  to  religious 
influences  is  marked,  and  the  church,  attended  irregularly,  re- 
mains gloomy  and  unattractive.  Surplus  earnings  are  either  sent 
abroad  or  are  hoarded  in  little  tin  boxes  lying  in  the  bottoms  of 
trunks.  Except  for  the  public  school,  the  only  local  Americaniz- 
ing agency,  the  community  remains  an  isolated  group  of  men, 
women  and  children,  lacking  definite  aim  or  purpose. 

Such  were  the  conditions  as  they  existed  a  year  ago  in  a 
typical  industrial  immigrant  community  in  the  City  of  New 
York.  Barren  Island,  in  Jamaica  Bay,  is  the  receiving  station 
for  the  city's  garbage  and  dead  animals.  Some  1,200  foreigners 
— men,  women  and  children — have  been  attracted  to  the  Island, 
the  adult  males  finding  employment  in  the  reduction  and  fertilizer 
plants.  The  conditions  described,  however,  are  more  or  less 
typical  of  many  industrial  communities  throughout  the  country. 
Legislation  and  the  enforcement  of  general  statutes  have  been 
found  insufficient  measures  to  remedy  these  conditions  or  to  en- 
force an  American  standard  of  living  in  such  communities.  Such 
desolate  and  socially  isolated  communities  can  become  American- 
ized when  the  individuals  concerned  have  been  educated  to  appre- 
ciate the  necessity  for  cleanliness,  sanitation,  sobriety,  morality 
and  literacy.  When  the  women's  work  is  never  done,  home  life 
is  destroyed,  standards  are  lowered,  Americanization  is  retarded, 
and  the  children's  standards  of  citizenship  are  low.  Where  green 
things  are  seldom  visible,  where  little  streams  of  dirty  water  are 
allowed  to  stagnate,  where  tin  cans,  fruit  skins  and  other  refuse 
lie  about  the  houses  and  where  sickness  and  disease  increase  mor- 
tality— vigorous  yet  sympathetic  action  must  be  taken  if  life  in 
America  is  to  continue  to  be  of  a  high  standard. 

With  this  in  mind  a  definite,  constructive  plan  of  work  for  in- 
tensive and  personal  work  in  the  homes  of  the  immigrant  resi- 
dents of  Barren  Island  was  outlined,  and  the  cooperation  of  the 
New  York  City  Department  of  Health  secured.  On  August  6, 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  283 

1915,  the  department  temporarily  released  one  of  its  trained 
nurses  for  the  experiment,  a  building  was  rented  and  an  assistant 
was  secured.  The  plan  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a  milk 
station  as  a  health  laboratory,  home  visiting  to  promote  higher 
standards  of  living,  stimulating  interest  in  education  and  citizen- 
ship and  providing  adequate  recreational  facilities.  The  milk  sta- 
tion was  equipped  with  a  sanitary  ice-box,  demonstration  tables, 
infant  scales  and  bath  tubs,  a  first  aid  kit,  standard  medicines  for 
infants'  diseases,  charts,  folding  chairs,  pamphlets  on  diet,  feed- 
ing and  parental  care  and  other  essentials.  When  connected  by 
sliding  doors  with  an  adjacent  room  this  laboratory  became  avail- 
able as  a  lecture  hall  for  health  demonstrations,  discussions  and 
meetings.  A  small  office  was  fitted  up  with  a  desk  and  a  few 
chairs  for  private  consultations.  On  an  upper  floor  one  room 
was  used  as  an  infirmary  for  serious  cases  of  illness  requiring 
the  nurse's  constant  attention,  while  an  adjoining  room  was  used 
as  the  nurse's  personal  quarters.  An  attractive  sign  calling  the 
attention  of  the  residents  to  the  fact  that  services  were  rendered 
free  of  charge  at  this  health  and  social  center  was  placed  in  the 
window.  Record  and  individual  case  cards  of  the  Health  De- 
partment were  secured  for  the  station.  The  station  was  kept 
open  all  hours  of  the  day,  although  the  nurse  was  away  after- 
noons visiting  homes  and  engaging  in  personal  work. 

The  improvement  of  Barren  Island  in  sanitation,  education, 
beauty  and  other  conditions  which  could  in  any  way  conduce  to 
the  health,  morality,  happiness  and  general  good  citizenship  of  its 
residents  was  sought.  As  the  interest  and  cooperation  of  the 
mothers  and  fathers  was  largely  dependent  on  any  personal  ser- 
vice rendered  to  their  children,  it  was  determined  to  approach 
the  work  by  a  direct  appeal  to  the  latter.  The  work  for  the  social 
and  health  rehabilitation  of  the  community  was  therefore  organ- 
ized into  four  general  divisions — health,  sanitation,  education  and 
naturalization,  and  recreation,  detailed  as  follows: 

(i)  Health — (a)  At  station:  pure  milk  and  ice — for  infants, 
anaemic  children,  and  sick  adults;  first  aid  to  the  injured — in  co- 
operation with  a  visiting  doctor;  illustrated  health  talks — care  of 
babies,  prenatal  care,  swat-the-fly  campaign,  (fr)  Home  visiting; 
interior  conditions — cleanliness,  ventilation,  personal  hygiene, 
pure  food,  congestion  (boarders)  and  children  on  dumps,  (c) 
General :  pure  water  supply  and  pipe  line  connections — for  drink- 
ing and  fire  protection;  pure  food — through  law  enforcement. 


284  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

(2)  Sanitation — (a)  Garbage:  covered  cans  in  rear  of  every 
house  and  arrangements  for  disposal  regularly,     (b)  Refuse:  tin 
cans  and  other  refuse  in  streets,  yards  and  alleys  gathered  and 
collected  in  heaps  and  arrangements  for  disposal,     (c)  Drainage: 
hollows  and  holes  filled  in  with  slag,  with  cooperation  of  plants ; 
water  drains  covered,     (d)    Toilets;   cleaned,   screened  and  re- 
paired ;  movable  metal  receptacles  placed  under  seats. 

(3)  Education  and  Naturalisation — (a)   Classes:  in  English 
and  citizenship  in  public  schools ;  attendance  of  men  and  women 
solicited  personally  and  by  notices  in  pay  envelopes  and  posters. 
(b)  Reading  room  and  library;  newspapers,  magazines  and  books 
in  English  and  in  the  important  foreign  languages  at  the  milk 
station  or  public  school,     (c)  Lectures  and  public  meetings:  on 
health,  civic,  patriotic  and  educational  themes  of  local  interest — 
moving  pictures,     (d)   Sewing  class :  practical  aid  to  girls  and 
mothers,     (e)  Mothers'  Club:  domestic  science,  care  of  self  and 
home*.     (/)  Prize  essays :  on  miscellaneous  community  needs  and 
remedies. 

(4)  Recreation — (a)    Playground:   baseball  field   on  vacant 
lot,  cleaned  and  graded  by  children  with  cooperation  of  plants ; 
sand  pile  and  wading  pool  near  school.     (6)    Outdoor  games; 
pageants,  group  and  folk  dancing,     (r)  Dancing:  in  school  gym- 
nasium or  hall  for  adults,     (d)  Home  gardens:  in  front  of  houses 
— vines,   flowers ;   in  yards— vegetable  and  truck  gardening ;    in 
window  boxes — flowers.     (Children  provided  with  seeds  without 
cost,  and  prizes  offered  for  best  and  most  artistic  results.)    O) 
Outings  and  celebrations :  to  develop  closer  community  spirit. 

(5)  Miscellaneous — (a)      Exploitation:    hearing    complaints 
and  making  adjustments.    (6)  Domestic  relations:  adjusting  fam- 
ily disputes  and  providing  for  the  care  of  neglected  children,  (c) 
General :  advice  and  information. 

The  residents  were  informed  of  the  plan  and  purpose  of  the 
work  at  an  Americanization  celebration  which  was  made  the  oc- 
casion for  talks  on  clean  living,  the  importance  of  learning  the 
English  language  and  the  opportunities  and  obligations  of  Amer- 
ican citizenship.  The  hot  summer  and  infants'  diseases  soon 
brought  the  mothers  to  the  station  to  secure  properly  iced  Grade 
"A"  milk  at  cost  price — a  welcome  substitute  for  the  condensed 
or  "turned"  milk  on  which  babies  had  previously  been  fed.  Some 
250  quarts  of  fresh  milk  were  sold  weekly  thereafter  for  babies, 
expectant  and  nursing  mothers  and  for  the  adult  sick.  Every 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  285 

child  under  two  years  of  age  brought  to  the  station  was  weighed 
and  examined  by  the  nurse,  who  in  nearly  every  case  rendered 
some  trifling  service,  instructed  the  mother  in  the  preparation 
and  modification  of  feedings  and  gave  practical  demonstration  on 
how  to  bathe,  feed  and  dress  the  baby. 

As  the  work  progressed,  many  children  were  found  suffering 
from  malnutrition  or  from  such  diseases  as  diarrhoea,  constipa- 
tion, sprue,  tonsilitis,  milk  rash,  burns,  ring  worm  and  eczema. 
An  infant's  diet  frequently  included  such  indigestible  foods  as 
cucumbers,  watermelons,  sour  milk,  cabbage,  condensed  milk,  fish 
or  tomato  soup,  while  beer  and  vodka  were  occasionally  served  to 
quench  its  thrist.  With  some  mothers  the  use  of  milk  after 
weaning  is  unknown,  and  when  advised  to  feed  the  child  under 
two  years  of  age  chiefly  on  milk,  broad  hints  were  made  that  the 
sale  of  milk  was  being  promoted.  With  the  coming  of  cold 
weather  in  the  early  fall,  babies  were  seldom  taken  out  of  doors 
and  windows  were  nailed  down,  but  most  of  the  houses  were  of 
such  flimsy  construction  that  the  many  air  holes  provided  some  of 
the  fresh  air  needed !  A  typical  case  of  neglect  was  that  of  a 
two-months-old  infant  who  came  under  the  nurse's  care  with  its 
mouth  cavity  and  tongue  covered  with  sprue.  Although  covered 
with  dirt,  the  child  frequently  went  without  a  bath.  One  hot 
evening  the  nurse  found  the  baby  in  a  room  with  windows  closed, 
lying  in  a  cot  between  two  feather  pillows  and  with  about  two 
pounds  of  sliced  onions  tied  to  its  stomach,  the  palms  of  its  hands 
and  the  soles  of  its  feet.  The  baby  was  being  fed  on  tea  with 
plenty  of  sugar  and  was  crying  pitifully.  One  emaciated  infant, 
in  another  instance,  had  been  suffering  from  diarrhoea  and, 
despite  the  doctor's  orders,  had  been  fed  on  greasy  chicken  broth. 
The  day  she  died  another  child  was  born  to  the  distracted 
mother.  A  decidedly  threatening  attitude  had  to  be  assumed  by 
the  nurse  in  several  cases  to  convince  the  mothers  of  their  folly. 
The  health  work  has  not,  however,  been  limited  to  the  care  of 
sick  babies.  Adults  have  received  first-aid  in  minor  accidents 
and  simple  treatment  for  diseased  eyes  and  hands  and  intestinal 
disorders,  while  persons  suffering  from  serious  diseases  were  re- 
ferred to  a  doctor  who  visits  the  Island  daily  for  a  few  hours, 
and  tubercular  cases  were  sent  to  public  institutions.  Other 
adults  were  given  advice  and  treatment,  sometimes  under  a  doc- 
tor's direction,  for  pleurisy,  grippe,  pneumonia  diseased  eyes  and 
for  injuries  received  in  drunken  brawls  or  in  accidents. 


286  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

The  educational  value  of  the  nurse's  graphic  demonstrations 
of  treatment  in  the  homes  cannot  be  overestimated.  A  mother, 
in  one  instance,  was  suffering  acutely  from  a  rectal  obstruction. 
When  the  nurse  arrived  she  found  her  lying  in  a  filthy  bed  with- 
out bed  sheets  or  bed  clothing.  The  windows  were  closed,  the 
air  was  foul  and  the  floor  was  filthy.  The  patient  was  so  "sick" 
that  six  of  her  neighbors  (women)  had  also  been  called  in.  Im- 
potent without  direction,  they  had  been  standing  about  with 
folded  arms  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  nurse.  Taking  the  situa- 
tion in  at  a  glance,  the  latter  put  all  six  women  to  work,  one 
opening  the  window,  another  mopping  up  the  floor,  the  third 
bringing  in  a  clean  nightgown  the  fourth  getting  some  warm 
water,  the  fifth  fitting  up  another  bed  with  clean  linen,  etc.  The 
patient,  after  ordinary  treatment,  was  then  removed  to  the  clean 
bed  and  the  room  was  thoroughly  aired. 

Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  this  health  work  in  over- 
coming the  superstitions  of  ignorant  mothers.  One  baby  had 
been  cured  of  spru  and  diarrhoea  and  the  mother  was  asked  to 
bring  the  child  to  the  station  to  be  weighed  at  regular  intervals, 
but  weighing  babies  was  "bad  luck,"  and  any  gain  in  weight 
meant  fattening  for  death  and  the  mother  refused  to  come.  But 
when  through  filth  and  dirt  another  case  of  sprue  was  later 
brought  on,  the  mother  promptly  reappeared  at  the  station !  The 
mother  of  another  child  suffering  from  pneumonia  insisted  she 
could  cure  her  baby  by  covering  her  with  a  black  shawl.  Another 
woman  lapsed  her  insurance  policy,  claiming  she  had  been  sick 
since  it  had  been  issued.  One  old  woman  known  as  the  "witch" 
was  frequently  called  in  to  mumble  incoherent  phrases  and  make 
mysterious  motions  over  the  bodies  of  the  sick  persons — and  she 
was  credited  with  the  cure ! 

The  health  work  carried  on  in  this  manner  gave  the  nurse  an 
easy  entree  to  the  homes.  Daily  visits  were  made,  averaging 
about  seventy-five  a  week,  and  every  opportunity  was  taken  to 
instruct  mothers  in  matters  of  cleanliness,  ventilation,  personal 
hygiene,  sanitation  of  the  home  and  grounds,  pure  food,  conges- 
tion, etc.  The  general  appearance  of  the  homes  has  changed  so 
completely  as  a  result  of  these  visits,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that 
not  very  long  ago  windows  had  been  nailed  down,  beds  and  bed- 
ding had  been  filthy,  food  had  been  exposed  to  flies  and  members 
of  the  family  had  been  carelessly  dressed.  Even  congestion,  a 
serious  evil  in  homes  where  boarders  are  kept,  has  been  consid- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  287 

erably  reduced  through  this  slow,  patient  educational  work. 

The  nurse  has  become  a  friend  of  the  family  and  many  per- 
sonal and  domestic  difficulties  are  now  referred  to  her  for  ad- 
justment. Constant  quarreling  between  a  mother  and  her  four- 
teen-year-old daughter  caused  the  latter  to  run  away  from  home. 
The  nurse  was  appealed  to  and  she  located  the  girl  in  Brooklyn 
and  arranged  that  she  be  cared  for  by  an  uncle.  One  poor  hus- 
band complained  that  his  wife  was  frequently  intoxicated,  neg- 
lected her  home  and  children,  and  seldom  had  his  supper  ready 
when  he  returned  after  thirteen  hours  of  work.  At  his  request 
the  nurse  called  frequently  at  the  home  and  the  husband  is  now 
congratulating  himself  at  his  happy  thought — the  wife  has  given 
up  drinking  and  has  supper  ready  in  time!  These  cases  fre- 
quently required  the  services  of  other  agencies  and  they  were 
referred,  after  investigation,  to  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  Bu- 
reau of  Charities,  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Chil- 
dren, hospitals,  etc.  With  the  many  demands  made  on  her 
services,  the  nurse  has  found  it  necessary  to  visit  homes  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  night.  Her  knowledge  of  the-  important 
languages,  Polish  and  Slovak,  has  been  of  special  value  and  has 
enabled  her  to  interest  herself  in  the  residents  and  extend  many 
personal  services. 

The  sanitary  conditions  in  the  community  were  so  bad  that 
special  efforts  to  improve  them  were  made.  Vigorous  food  in- 
spections were  undertaken  with  the  cooperation  of  the  authori- 
ties and  quantities  of  fruits,  vegetables,  butter,  meat,  fish  and 
milk  were  condemned  and  destroyed.  This  was  always  followed 
with  the  necessary  educational  work,  and  shopkeepers  now  keep 
their  meats,  bread  and  other  foodstuffs  in  glass  showcases.  One 
of  them  became  so  enthusiastic  that  he  established  a  model 
grocery  and  meat  shop,  while  another,  the  owner  of  the  filthiest 
shop  in  the  district,  renovated  it  completely.  A  house-to-house 
educational  campaign  was  waged  to  induce  the  householders  to 
purchase  covered  garbage  cans  in  which  to  deposit  their  garbage 
and  kitchen  refuse  which  had  previously  been  thrown  into  yards, 
alleys  and  streets.  Shopkeepers  were  approached  and  agreed  to 
cooperate  by  offering  for  sale  only  covered  cans.  The  coopera- 
tion of  the  Street  Cleaning  Department  was  then  secured  and  ar- 
rangements were  finally  made  for  the  collection  of  garbage  three 
times  a  week.  This  was  followed  recently  by  a  vigorous  "clean- 
up" campaign,  as  a  result  of  which  about  300  truck-loads  of  refuse 


288  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

were  collected  in  heaps  by  the  residents,  who  now  take  pride  in 
keeping  their  grounds  clean.  Other  improvements  secured  in- 
clude the  installation  of  galvanized  iron  receptacles  under  the 
seats  of  the  old-fashioned  outhouses,  which  can  be  taken  out  and 
cleaned  through  newly  constructed  rear  trap  doors,  the  construc- 
tion of  inexpensive  home-made  flytraps  which  has  considerably 
reduced  the  need  of  a  "swat-the-fly"  campaign,  and  the  screening 
of  windows  and  doors  in  the  early  spring  to  keep  out  the  mos- 
quitoes and  flies. 

Although  improvement  in  the  health  and  sanitary  conditions 
established  higher  standards  of  living,  it  did  not  serve  to  give  the 
residents  any  closer  relationship  with  our  national  life  or  a  more 
intelligent  understanding  of  our  national  ideals.  The  house-to- 
house  work  was  therefore  utilized  to  arouse  among  the  adults 
interest  in  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language  and  preparation 
for  American  citizenship.  Men  and  women  were  urged  to  attend 
the  public  evening  school,  addresses  were  made  before  foreign 
societies,  colored  posters  were  put  up  in  various  sections  of  the 
district,  announcements  were  made  by  the  priest  and  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  employers  was  secured.  Decided  interest  was  ex- 
pressed and  a  class  in  preparation  for  citizenship  was  organized 
in  the  evening  school  to  meet  the  demand.  The  attendance  was 
increased,  but  the  changing  shifts  in  the  plants  hampered  regu- 
larity. Plans  are  now  being  formulated  to  provide  instruction 
for  the  changing  shifts  inside  the  plants.  Talks  on  health  and 
personal  hygiene  were  given  to  the  children  with  the  cooperation 
of  the  school  authorities,  and  mothers  were  urged  to  come  to  the 
station  for  simple  instruction  in  English.  A  branch  office  of  the 
Traveler's  Library  was  organized  at  the  station  and  about  250 
books  in  English  and  in  foreign  languages  are  now  available, 
about  seventy-five  being  circulated  each  week. 

The  serious  efforts  to  improve  the  health  and  educational 
standards  of  the  community  were  relieved  by  the  organization  of 
many  recreational  activities.  As  the  improvements  in  the  homes 
were  carried  out  by  and  through  the  children,  efforts  were  made 
to  have  them  regard  the  station  as  their  playground  as  well  as  a 
place  for  practical  work.  A  Little  Mothers'  League  was  organ- 
ized for  girls  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen,  which  now 
has  a  membership  of  forty.  Meetings  are  held  every  week,  par- 
liamentary rules  are  followed  and  presiding  officers  are  elected 
by  popular  vote.  Lectures  on  health  are  given  at  each  meeting. 
Each  member  signs  a  pledge  to  take  care  of  the  babies,  and  is 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  289 

given  a  Little  Mothers'  League  badge  after  attendance  at  three 
meetings.  The  subjects  of  the  weekly  lessons  are  as  follows: 
(l)  growth  and  development;  (2)  teeth  and  what  to  notice  in  the 
baby;  (3)  bathing  and  the  value  of  water;  (4)  fresh  air;  (5) 
sleep  and  quiet;  (6)  clothing  and  cleanliness;  (7)  first  care  of 
sick  baby;  (8)  milk;  (9)  feeding;  (10)  care  of  milk,  bottles  and 
nipples;  (n)  home  directions  for  milk  modification  (demonstrate 
process)  ;  (12)  albumen,  water  and  whey  (demonstrate  process)  ; 
(13)  quiz  and  essays  on  baby  care. 

Each  member  has  one  baby  assigned  to  her  care.  She  is  in 
duty  bound  to  visit  this  baby  daily,  in  most  cases  her  own  sister 
or  brother,  and  to  do  everything  possible  to  help  the  mother.  A 
report  of  each  baby  is  kept,  which  the  nurse  checks  up,  and  in 
case  of  illness  she  is  at  once  notified.  The  members  receive 
special  instruction  on  how  to  observe  symptoms  of  illness  and 
what  to  do  to  relieve  distress  before  the  nurse  calls.  Demonstra- 
tions are  held  on  life-size  dolls.  The  league  gave  an  exhibition 
of  its  work  at  a  school  assembly  in  the  presence  of  all  the  pupils 
and  teachers  and  some  mothers.  The  members  were  dressed  as 
nurses  and  actually  demonstrated  the  lessons  previously  taught 
them  by  the  nurse.  Formerly  the  girls  had  no  community  inter- 
est and  spent  all  their  time  in  school,  in  housework  or  on  the 
"dumps."  The  Little  Mothers'  League  has  given  them  a  new  in- 
terest and  a  new  point  of  view.  All  spare  time  at  the  meetings 
is  taken  up  with  the  reading  of  Frances  Hodgson  Burnett's  "The 
Little  Princess,"  and  with  occasional  dancing.  All  the  children's 
dolls  are  now  named  "Emily"  after  the  doll  in  the  story ! 

A  Boy  Scout  Troop  has  been  organized  for  the  boys  on  the 
Island,  under  the  direction  of  one  of  the  public  school  teachers, 
an  ex-sergeant  of  the  United  States  army.  Some  thirty  boys  have 
already  joined  and  are  now  provided  with  uniforms  and  a  large 
American  flag  has  been  secured.  Appropriate  field  exercises  are 
held  each  legal  holiday. 

A  "Camp  Fire  Girls"  division  has  also  been  organized  for  the 
older  girls  and  a  "Bluebird"  division  for  the  younger  girls,  and 
considerable  interest  is  being  displayed  by  the  mothers  as  well  as 
the  children  in  the  folk-dances,  costumes  and  credits  for  good 
behavior  at  home. 

An  Altar  Society,  whose  members  are  young  girls  of  school 
age,  has  also  been  formed.  They  sweep  and  dust  the  church  and 
sacristy  and  decorate  the  altars  with  whatever  greens  and  flowers 
can  be  had.  The  former  cheerlessness,  dust  and  quiet  of  the 


2QO  •  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

church  has  disappeared.  Formerly  the  singing  at  church  was 
done  only  by  the  organist.  Now  some  of  the  Altar  Society  mem- 
bers and  others  have  formed  a  church  choir,  rehearsals  being 
held  at  the  station,  and  a  general  celebration  was  held  on  Christ- 
mas with  many  participating. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  one  of  the  plants,  some  waste  land 
has  been  turned  into  a  ball  and  athletic  field  for  the  boys  and 
girls.  The  yard  of  the  station  was  also  turned  into  a  model 
garden  and  divided  into  twelve  plots  for  the  most  deserving  chil- 
dren in  school.  Such  keen  interest  was  shown  that  some  200 
packets  of  vegetable  and  flower  seeds  were  secured  from  the  gov- 
ernment and  distributed  among  the  children.  Little  gardens  ap- 
peared here  and  there  as  if  over  night.  Swings  and  hammocks 
were  put  up  where,  on  account  of  a  few  stunted  trees,  plants 
could  not  be  grown. 

An  outing  and  Americanization  Day  celebration  has  now  been 
arranged  for  Sunday,  July  2d,  at  which  all  the  children  and  their 
mothers  and  fathers  will  be  given  a  boat  ride  to  a  nearby  picnic 
resort,  a  band  has  been  secured,  and  appropriate  patriotic  exer- 
cises will  be  given  by  the  Boy  Scouts,  Camp  Fire  Girls  and  other 
children.  Every  excursionist  will  carry  an  American  flag  and 
short  addresses  in  their  own  languages  will  be  made  by  a  few  of 
the  more  Americanized  men. 

The  station  has  served  many  other  purposes  in  the  com- 
munity. Through  the  constant  activity  of  the  nurse,  who  is  in 
reality  an  Americanizing  domestic  educator,  a  new  water  main 
has  been  laid,  fences  have  been  repaired,  mongrel  dogs  have  been 
sent  to  the  pound,  relief  has  been  secured  for  the  poor,  a  volun- 
teer Fire  Brigade  has  been  formed,  a  Mothers'  Club  has  been 
organized,  saving  facilities  have  been  provided  and  thrift  en- 
couraged, "quack"  medicine  vendors  have  been  driven  out  of  the 
community  and  a  Defense  League  has  been  formed.  Such  ad- 
justments to  their  varied  community  relationships  have  brought 
about  a  new  civic  spirit,  have  set  a  higher  standard  of  living  and 
have  developed  in  this  large  group  of  foreigners  a  genuine  in- 
terest in  the  welfare  of  the  country  in  which  they  live.  The  work 
has  been  constructive  and  farreaching  and  will,  no  doubt,  prove 
to  be  of  permanent  value  to  the  residents  and  the  community  and 
cannot  but  promote  a  stable  population  and  a  high  type  of 
American  citizenship. 

Immigrants  in   America   Review.      2:54-60.     July,    1916. 


INDUSTRY 

THE   ENGLISH   FOR   SAFETY   CAMPAIGN 
MARIAN  K.  CLARK 

CHIEF     INVESTIGATOR,     BUREAU     OF   INDUSTRIES     AND     IMMIGRATION, 
NEW   YORK    STATE    INDUSTRIAL    COMMISSION 

Apart  from  the  conservation  of  life  and  limb  the  "English 
for  Safety  Campaign"  aims  at  more  complete  sharing  of  thought 
and  better  understanding  in  industry.  This  means  not  only  con- 
servation of  time  and  temper,  but  a  larger  productive  power  in 
every  industry  employing  aliens.  In  the  60,000  factories  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  2,000,000  workers  are  employed,  of  whom 
approximately  1,600,000  are  foreign  born.  Of  these  400,000  are 
unable  to  read  or  write  even  in  their  own  language,  800,000  can- 
not understand  or  speak  English.  This  is  a  condition  which 
makes  democracy  impossible  and  is  a  barrier  to  industrial  prog- 
ress. How  to  reach  these  handicapped  workers  and  enable  them 
to  be  worth  more  and  so  to  earn  more  and  be  less  liable  to  injury 
and  desolation  is  our  problem. 

English  Language  and  Cost  of  Accidents 

During  the  year  1914,  the  first  year  in  which  the  Workmen's 
Compensation  Law  as  effective  in  New  York,  there  were  40,000 
compensated  and  225,000  reported  accidents.  In  1915  there  were 
50,000  compensated  out  of  270,000.  In  1916,  from  a  total  of 
313,000  accidents,  58,500  were  compensated,  costing  $11,500,000 
or  $40,000  a  day,  and  at  the  present  writing  reports  of  accidents 
are  being  filed  at  the  rate  of  1,000  a  day,  or  at  a  cost  of  $13,000,- 
ooo  per  year  as  an  initial  expenditure,  to  which  must  be  added 
the  cost  of  medical  benefits,  administration  of  the  compensation 
law,  wages  and  cost  of  turnover,  which  has  increased  the  total 
direct  and  indirect  cost  of  accidents  in  New  York  State  to 
$35,000,000,  or  at  the  rate  of  about  $117,000  per  day,  for  1917. 

Seven  out  of  every  ten  applicants  for  compensation  require 
the  services  of  an  interpreter ;  when  a  man  requires  an  interpreter 
to  present  his  claim,  he  presumably  is  unable  to  understand  work 
directions  in  English,  and  for  that  reason  alone  is  needlessly  ex- 


aga  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

posed  to  injury.  If,  therefore,  about  70  per  cent  of  all  industrial 
accidents  in  New  York  State  are  largely  attributable  to  ignorance 
of  the  language  in  which  safety  directions  are  given,  and  by  in- 
struction in  the  factory  for  one  hour  a  day  for  sixty  days  it  is 
probable  that  one  half  of  the  number  of  accidents  could  be  pre- 
vented, the  immediate  gross  saving  to  our  industries  would  equal 
$50,000  per  day! 

It  must  be  recalled  that  ignorance  of  English  limits  efficiency 
and  advancement,  increases  public  dependency  and  renders  less 
capable  the  able-bodied  laborer,  who  is  becoming  so  increasingly 
valuable.  All  educators  are  agreed  that  night  schools  do  not 
solve  this  grave  problem  and  while  some  of  the  young  and  en- 
ergetic are  reached  through  the  combination  of  the  community 
centre  and  the  night  class,  the  vast  majority  of  the  older  men 
and  women  after  a  hard  day's  work  have  neither  the  desire  nor 
the  mental  or  physical  ability  to  absorb  instruction. 

At  a  recent  conference  of  the  National  Committee  of  One 
Hundred,  under  the  auspices  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education  at  Washington,  representatives  of  School  Boards  from 
Rhode  Island,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Michigan,  as  well 
as  New  York  City,  were  agreed  on  the  fact  that  might  schools 
did  not  adequately  reach  the  illiterate  adult  alien.  The  minutes 
of  that  conference  will  prove  conclusively  that  while  night  schools 
in  the  first  term  show  a  good  registration,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  term,  this  attendance  actually  precipitates.  .  .  .  Out  of 
500,000  foreign-born  illiterates  in  the  City  of  New  York,  the 
evening  schools  last  year  succeeded  in  reaching  only  about  55,000, 
and  of  these,  few  were  non-English  speaking  aliens.  The  1914 
report  of  the  Bureau  of  Industries  and  Immigration  recom- 
mended "compulsory  school  attendance  for  every  illiterate  alien 
over  sixteen  years  of  age  residing  in  the  State  of  New  York." 
Could  such  an  amendment  to  the  Compulsory  Education  Law 
be  enacted,  the  necessity  for  supplying  teachers  especially  trained 
to  conduct  classes  in  factories  would  then  be  evident.  .  .  .  Such 
teachers  are  not  available  now. 

The  relationship  existing  between  compensation,  turnover  and 
illiteracy,  and  its  enormous  cost  in  money  and  efficiency  is  bad 
in  times  of  peace,  but  now,  during  this  war  of  devastation,  it  is  a 
tragedy.  The  alien  who  enters  our  country  physically  sound  and 
owing  to  his  illiteracy  becomes  physically  broken  becomes  an  ad- 
ded economic  burden  and  is  in  addition  grievously  sinned  against. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  293 

Every  common  laborer  is  an  asset  to  this  country;  his  economic 
value  increases  or  diminishes  in  comparison  to  his  productivity. 
For  his  employer  or  his  adopted  country  to  permit  him  to  become 
a  liability  when  in  a  period  of  only  sixty  hours  he  can  be  con- 
verted into  an  asset  to  himself,  his  employer,  and  the  State,  savors 
of  industrial  as  well  as  social  and  political  negligence. 

An  "English  for  Safety  Campaign"  in  factories  is  an  imme- 
diately practical  way  by  which  accident  can  be  lessened.  The 
factory  itself  is  the  place  where  the  school  room  should  be,  in 
order  to  be  effective.  The  illiterate  does  not  appreciate  his  own 
handicaps,  and  usually  will  not  learn  unless  the  employer  makes 
the  way  easy  and  inviting.  The  greatest  handicap  in  any  Eng- 
lish-teaching campaign  is  lack  of  money  incentive  to  the  worker 
to  learn.  The  employer  is  in  a  position  to  furnish  the  money  in- 
centive. It  has  been  shown  clearly  that  the  whole  matter  is  one 
of  dollars  and  cents ;  that  it  repays  the  employer,  not  only  in  the 
long  run  but  at  once;  moreover  the  best  results  are  attained  by 
paying  the  wage  while  the  worker  is  being  taught.  It  has  been 
found  to  be  a  saving  for  the  employer  to  allot  the  time  WITHOUT 
LOSS  OF  WAGE  TO  THE  WORKER,  for  an  English-teaching  campaign 
in  a  factory  means  larger  economy  in  management. 

A  hygienic  educational  and  social  propaganda  makes  for  per- 
sonal advancement ;  and  the  efficiency  of  the  worker  makes  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  employer,  not  sometimes  but  always. 

The  State,  the  corporation  and  the  individual  employer  owe 
a  moral  obligation  to  our  immigrant  population.  The  welfare  of 
both  the  State  and  the  employer  is  bound  up  in  the  welfare  of 
the  industrial  worker.  We  cannot  ignore  one  without  injuring 
the  other. 

From  Address,  Safety  Conference,  New  York  State  Industrial  Commia- 
•ion,  December  3,  1917,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


294  RACE-ASSIMILATION 


AMERICAN    INDUSTRY    AND    IMMIGRANT 
LABOR 

JOHN  H.  FAHEY 

FORMER   PRESIDENT   CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES 
OF   AMERICA 

At  least  one  part  of  the  task  of  conserving  labor  is  quite  be- 
yond the  powers  and  the  scope  of  the  individual  industry.  I  refer 
to  the  immigrant  workman,  and  especially  the  unskilled  laborer. 
In  his  case  especially  it  is  impossible  to  separate  his  industrial 
from  his  civic  and  social  relations — efficiency  in  one  is  impossible 
without  competence  in  the  other.  In  plain  words,  non-English- 
speaking  workmen,  living  by  southern  European  standards,  ig- 
norant of  American  industrial  ideals,  with  no  sense  of  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  American  residence,  to  say  nothing  of  American 
citizenship,  are  not  a  stable  asset  in  industry.  Yet  upon  this  un- 
steady foundation  today  many  of  our  most  imposing  industrial 
structures  are  being  raised — our  railroads,  our  steel  plants,  our 
great  new  munition  factories,  and  a  dozen  others  in  the  order  of 
their  importance. 

In  the  conservation  forces  and  agencies  which  American  in- 
dustry has  up  to  this  time  developed,  the  immigrant  labor  supply 
has  been  more  than  all  other  factors  neglected.  We  have  devel- 
oped a  tradition  of  taking  huge  immigrant  labor  supplies  in  the 
rough  and  using  them  in  the  rough.  They  have  been  drafted  to 
this  job  or  that  according  to  their  face  value.  And  in  spite  of 
our  favorite  stories  of  immigrants  risen  from  the  ranks,  we  know 
this  to  be  true — that  the  typical  history  of  the  immigrant  laborer 
in  this  country  is  that  he  has  stayed  where  he  was  first  drafted — 
in  the  same  class  and  condition  at  which  he  was  first  appraised. 
Men  skilled  in  some  old-country  trade  have  stayed  for  years  by 
the  American  pick  and  hoe.  The  road  to  industrial  progress  is 
not  easily  found,  if  indeed  it  is  accessible  at  all,  by  men  whose 
only  point  of  contact  with  America  is  the  American  job  they  hold. 

When  immigration  is  resumed  a  real  conservation  policy  will, 
therefore,  demand  a  more  careful  scrutiny  of  the  labor  forces  we 
draft  from  the  old  countries.  Some  of  the  scientific  hiring  prin- 
ciples we  are  introducing  everywhere  else  we  shall  have  to  apply 
here,  too.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  days  of  drafting  men 
off  to  jobs  in  hundreds  or  thousands,  by  blue  tickets,  not  by 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  295 

names,  is  over.  The  method  will  not  stand  the  test  of  conserva- 
tion principles.  I  am  inclined  to  fhink  that  our  national  govern- 
mental policy  will  institute  at  the  ports  of  entry  a  procedure  that 
will  make  quite  impossible  this  obliteration,  so  to  speak,  of  certain 
capacities  and  potentialities  in  our  immigrant  labor  supply. 

The  present  has  a  sufficient  task.  How  are  we  to  make  the 
most  of  the  immigrant  labor  forces  now  in  this  country?  I  have 
said  that  it  is  a  larger  matter  than  the  individual  industry  can 
handle.  It  requires  the  scope,  the  cumulative  power,  and  effort 
of  organized  business  on  a  nation-wide  basis.  In  saying  that 
the  problem  ramifies  into  the  fields  of  social  and  civic  welfare,  we 
indicate  that  making  the  immigrant  competent  in  American  life 
is  certainly  not  the  charge  of  American  business  alone,  nor  per- 
haps of  American  business  primarily.  But  these  two  facts  re- 
main :  that  the  immigrant  will  never  be  industrially  efficient  until 
he  is  socially  competent,  until  he  knows  English  and  the  customs 
and  standards  of  America ;  and  that  whatever  the  legitimate  re- 
sponsibility of  industry  may  or  may  not  be,  the  employer  is  the 
American  force  that  is  nearest  to  the  immigrant.  The  employer 
holds  the  strategic  position;  and  it  will  be  he,  more  than  any 
other  agency,  who  will  through  industrial  channels  bring  the 
immigrant  workman  to  both  industrial  and  civic  efficiency. 

And  the  unit  of  work  will  be  the  city,  not  the  individual  in- 
dustry. Employers  will  do  well  to  cooperate  in  finding  out  just 
where  they  stand  in  their  cities  with  reference  to  immigrant  labor. 
That  will  be  a  very  good  first  step  toward  discovering  just  what 
will  have  to  be  done  to  conserve  the  labor  force  of  the  city  and 
make  it  efficient.  I  believe  a  survey  of  the  immigrant  population 
is  a  really  critical  need  in  every  industrial  center  in  the  United 
States  today.  I  do  not  see  how  any  city  can  successfully  adapt 
its  institutions  to  a  population  of  which  it  has  no  real  record  or 
index. 

When  the  workman  has  the  English  language,  and  citizenship, 
or  when  he  is  in  preparation  for  citizenship,  he  has  a  very  good 
start  toward  industrial  efficiency.  But,  in  aiding  him  to  attain 
these  things  by  every  means  in  its  power,  organized  business  has 
done  only  part  of  the  work  open  to  it  in  this  task  of  conservation. 
In  a  very  large  degree  the  immigrant  workman  gets  his  social 
standards  through  industry.  Americans  may  come  to  the  same 
town  and  impose  standards  upon  the  town,  however  unpromising 
its  apparent  resources.  But  the  immigrant  workman  takes  what- 


296  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

ever  standards  and  facilities  he  finds,  accepts,  for  instance,  what- 
ever housing  is  pointed  out  to  him,  buys  and  sells  according  to 
the  advice  of  those  that  have  put  themselves  in  a  position  to 
advise  him  on  such  matters,  deposits  his  savings,  makes  his  in- 
vestment by  the  same  kind  of  advices.  At  present  the  immigrant 
is  neither  a  good  investor — in  America — nor  a  good  saver. 

We  now  have  great  concentration  of  labor  at  various  points ; 
"boom  towns"  and  "mushroom  cities"  are  springing  up.  Bridge- 
port has  added  14,000  to  its  population  in  the  last  few  months. 
Midvale  builds  houses  by  night  to  accommodate  its  new  work- 
men. Hopewell,  Va.,  increased  in  population  from  about  600  to 
nearly  30,000  in  less  than  six  months.  We  now  have  the  problem 
how  to  house  and  conserve  the  efficiency  of  this  labor  concentra- 
tion, and  a  sudden  decrease  of  war  orders  would  bring  us, face 
to  face  with  the  problem  of  redistributing  it  in  other  industries. 

Workmen  are  making  money.  This  is  the  time  to  talk  sav- 
ings, not  extravagance,  and  to  urge  American  investment.  Amer- 
ica is  the  place  in  which  the  savings  of  our  immigrant  workmen 
should  be  invested.  The  American  Bankers'  Association,  in  its 
newly  inaugurated  campaign  for  thrift,  needs  the  cooperation  of 
commercial  organizations. 

For  these  important  reasons  the  Directors  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  United  States  have  recently  approved  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Committee  on  Immigration  to  bring  this  question 
up  to  the  business  organizations  throughout  the  country  and  to 
stimulate  constructive  and  helpful  thought  concerning  the  immi- 
grant as  an  American  factor  as  well  as  an  industrial  asset ;  to 
take  some  purposeful  and  uniform  action  in  all  sections  toward 
improving  industrial  relations  between  employees  and  employers ; 
to  facilitate  methods  for  making  foreign-born  workingmen  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States ;  for  enabling  them  to  learn  the  English 
language  and  to  become  a  more  vital  part  of  American  life. 

Other  countries,  even  in  the  midst  of  a  struggle  for  their  very 
existence,  are  considering  measures  for  rehabilitating  after  the 
war.  France  has  appointed  a  commission  to  consider  this  matter. 
But  America  shows  an  astounding  indifference. 

Immigrants  in  America  Review.     2:47-9.     Ap.,   '16. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  397 


PROMOTING    AMERICANIZATION 

BY  HELEN  VARICK  BOSWELL 
CHAIRMAN  OF  EDUCATION,  GENERAL  FEDERATION  OF  WOMEN'S  CLUBS 

Women  throughout  the  country  have  wakened  up  to  the  fact 
that,  however  we  may  feel  as  to  the  degree  of  coast  defences  and 
standing  armies  needed,  we  should  recognize  that  quite  as  impor- 
tant as  forts  and  submarines  is  our  national  attitude  of  mind. 
Quite  as  important  as  the  standing  army  is  that  we  have  one 
nation  instead  of  many  peoples. 

We  have  begun  to  realize  that  peoples  living  side  by  side  do 
not  necessarily  constitute  the  nation,  and  that  the  factory  and 
mine  are  not  the  only  or  necessarily  the  best  medium  for  making 
citizens.  It  is  being  borne  in  upon  our  minds  that  in  the  efficient 
and  harmonious  union  of  many  peoples  in  a  common  defense  of 
any  one  nation  there  are  at  least  three  prime  essentials :  a  com- 
mon language  with  a  minimum  amount  of  illiteracy;  a  common 
citizenship,  including  similar  ideals,  beliefs,  standards  and  cus- 
toms, and  symbolized  by  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  America;  and 
a  high  standard  of  living,  which,  in  a  democratic  country,  tends 
to  diminish  disaffection  and  disloyalty  at  critical  times  and  at 
strategic  points. 

There  are  in  the  country  5,439,801  foreign-born  women  of  fif- 
teen years  or  over.  When  they  arrive  with  their  families,  the 
husband  goes  to  work  and  almost  immediately  establishes  con- 
tacts which  give  him  a  view  of  America.  His  mind  opens,  he 
begins  to  master  his  American  environments.  The  children  are 
put  in  a  public  school — they  form  friendships  with  American- 
born  children,  they  learn  American  ways  and  soon  they  are  the 
arbiters  in  all  family  matters  to  be  decided  according  to  American 
standards.  They,  instead  of  the  parents,  become  the  custodians 
and  sources  of  authority,  and  family  discipline  breaks  down.  The 
mother  is  the  slave  of  all  work;  she  forms  the  dull  old-world 
background  of  her  American  family — who  often  become  ashamed 
of  it  and  of  her.  She  does  not  learn  English :  she  gets  the  left- 
overs of  America  from  her  progressive  family;  she  does  not  be- 
come Americanized ;  she  does  not  absorb  new  ideals  and  ideas ; 
she  learns  little  about  American  foods  and  about  ways  for  caring 
for  her  children  in  the  new  and  very  different  climate.  It  is  not 
unusual  after  fifteen  years  in  this  country  to  find  English  spoken 


298  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

by  every  member  of  the  family  but  mother,  and  American  clothes 
worn  by  all  but  mother.  Even  this  superficial  distinction  closes 
many  doors  to  her.  Her  grown-up  daughter  in  a  highly  Amer- 
icanized hat  does  not  want  to  go  shopping  with  her  mother  who 
still  wears  a  black  shawl  over  her  head.  It  is  not  that  the 
mother  looks  so  ugly,  but  that  the  clinging  to  the  old  black  shawl 
typifies  to  the  daughter  her  mother's  whole  lack  of  understanding 
of  the  new  world  and  the  new  ideas  in  which  the  daughter  is  liv- 
ing. The  mother,  far  from  being  an  aid  in  Americanizing  her 
family,  becomes  a  reactionary  force.  Sadly  or  obstinately  as  it 
may  be,  but  always  ignorantly,  she  combats  every  bit  of  Amer- 
icanism that  her  husband  and  children  try  to  force  into  the 
Southern  European  home.  Yet  when  the  husband  passes  tests 
entitling  him  to  citizenship  she  becomes  a  full-fledged  citizen  also, 
as  do  her  children — all  prepared  but  the  mother. 

The  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  the  National  Ameri- 
canization Committee,  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization  and  other 
Organizations  interested  in  the  immigrant — in  the  elimination  of 
illiteracy  and  in  the  conversion  of  the  immigrant  into  the  fairly 
educated  citizen — turn  to  the  club  women  of  the  country  for 
practical  help. 

What  good  those  club  women  can  do  in  the  way  of  definite 
work  to  promote  this  real  Americanization,  especially  among  the 
immigrant  women,  can  be  placed  somewhat  in  this  wise :  Find  out 
how  many  immigrant  women  there  are  in  the  community.  Do 
they  speak  English?  Do  their  husbands?  Are  their  husbands 
naturalized?  Is  the  home  a  Southern  European  or  an  American 
home?  Is  the  family  American  in  its  loyalty?  Does  it  know 
enough  of  America  to  be  loyal  to  it?  Undoubtedly  the  children 
speak  English ;  but  what  is  the  real  nature  of  their  Americanism  ? 
Did  they  learn  it  chiefly  at  school  and  at  home — or  on  the  corner 
and  in  the  pool  room?  Reach  the  immigrant  woman.  It  is  the 
only  way  to  produce  American  homes.  See  that  she  learns  Eng- 
lish. Through  it  she  gets  her  first  American  contacts.  But  im- 
migrant women  can  rarely  attend  night  school.  Organize  for 
them,  as  has  been  done  in  a  number  of  places,  classes  from  two 
to  three  in  the  afternoon. 

Just  as  immigrant  men  are  taught  English  successfully  only 
when  the  instruction  deals  with  the  subject  matter  of  their  daily 
life  and  work,  so  the  method  of  teaching  English  to  women  can 
best  be  associated  with  methods  of  housekeeping,  cooking,  sew- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  299 

ing,  etc.  Moreover,  many  American  standards  and  customs  can 
be  brought  to  the  immigrant  woman  in  this  way.  She  can  really 
be  initiated  into  Americanism  and  the  language  at  once. 

Especially  at  first  it  will  be  very  difficult  to  get  immigrant 
women  to  attend  classes  in  the  public  schools — and  so  at  first,  and 
perhaps  later  also— there  must  be  friendly  visitors  and  teachers, 
"domestic  educators"  as  they  have  been  called,  to  carry  the  Eng- 
lish language  and  American  ways  of  caring  for  babies,  ventilating 
the  house,  preparing  American  vegetables,  instead  of  the  inevitable 
cabbage,  right  into  the  new  homes.  The  State  of  California  has 
through  its  department  of  public  education  provided  for  these 
friendly  visitors.  Until  other  places  with  heavy  immigrant  popu- 
lation act  with  similar  enlightenment,  may  not  women's  clubs 
step  in  and  blaze  the  trail  for  a  public  education  policy?  Can 
they  not  pay  domestic  educators,  or  meet  local  boards  of  educa- 
tion half  way  in  so  doing?  They  can  organize  mothers'  classes, 
cooking  classes,  sewing  classes,  classes  for  entertainment.  Re- 
member that  immigrant  women,  if  of  different  races,  often  know 
one  another  even  less  than  they  know  Americans. 
'  Make  immigrant  women  good  citizens.  Help  them  make  the 
homes  they  care  for  into  American  homes.  Give  their  children 
American  ideals  at  home,  as  well  as  in  school.  Make  American 
standards  of  living  prevail  throughout  the  community,  not  merely 
in  the  "American  sections." .  Above  all  show  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity that  this  work  of  Americanizing  immigrant  mothers  and 
immigrant  homes  is  in  the  highest  sense  a  work  of  citizenship,  a 
part  of  a  national  patriotic  ideal. 

The  relationship  of  Americanizing  the  foreign-born  women  in 
their  homes  to  all  the  aspects  of  the  development  of  our  indus- 
tries is  tremendous,  and  will  become  more  and  more  clear  to  us 
as  being  the  work  to  which  we  should  set  our  hands.  American 
industry,  of  course,  has  made  the  population  of  this  country  what 
it  is  today — some  one  hundred  million  people  drawn  from  many 
countries,  about  one-sixth  of  them  born  in  foreign  lands. 

The  sign  language  in  factories,  the  foreign  language  and  the 
padrone  in  the  labor  camps,  villages  and  colonies  scattered 
throughout  cities ;  several  million  non-citizens  and  non-voters  liv- 
ing and  working  under  laws  in  the  making  of  which  they  have  no 
voice,  of  which  they  have  little  knowledge,  and  for  which  they 
sometimes  have  little  respect ;  thousands  of  naturalized  voters, 
but  with  no  real  American  contact  or  American  understanding, 


300  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

marshalled  and  voted  in  companies  by  American  bosses — all  these 
conditions,  now  prevalent  and  typifying  our  failure  to  assimilate 
our  immigrant  population,  are  not  chargeable  to  industry. 

But  industry  is  the  force  in  American  life  which  has  the 
remedy  chiefly  in  its  control.  And  only  the  organized  assistance 
of  industry  can  make  it  possible  for  this  country  within  any 
reasonable  time  to  unify  the  present  heterogeneous  factors  in  our 
national  life,  and  substitute  for  a  babel  of  tongues  the  English 
language;  substitute  for  a  half-dead  loyalty  to  the  familiar  old 
country — and  a  half- alive  loyalty  to  the  unknown  new  one — an 
understanding  and  unequivocal  American  citizenship ;  for  old 
country  homes  in  American  cities  and  mill  and  mining  towns, 
American  homes  with  American  standards  of  living;  for  the 
vague  mixture  of  memories  and  aspirations  that  characterizes 
these  men  without  a  country,  a  vivid  and  alert  American  patri- 
otism. 

In  the  work  of  Americanization,  so  long  neglected,  now  so 
urgent,  industry  has  the  strategic  position.  Many  functions  of 
government  and  society  are  concerned  with  Americanization— 
and  are  perhaps  primarily  responsible  for  it,  such  as  our  public 
schools,  our  employment  systems,  our  courts,  our  social  protective 
organizations.  But  most  of  these  have  no  direct  or  influential  or 
authoritative  approach  to  the  immigrant,  unless  he  becomes  a 
public  charge.  The  employer  has.  The  gist  of  the  whole  situa- 
tion lies  in  this.  And  it  is  to  the  employer  that  the  nation  now 
turns  for  immediate  aid  and  cooperation  in  the  gravest  task  that 
the  country  has  faced  since  1861 — the  necessity  of  reinforcing  our 
national  unity,  of  making  our  many  peoples  one  nation,  marked 
from  coast  to  coast  by  a  common  language,  a  common  accept- 
ance of  industrial  standards,  a  common  understanding  of  the 
rights  and  obligations  of  American  citizenship. 

But  this  fact  remains:  the  Americanization  of  our  foreign- 
born  workmen,  even  so  far  as  teaching  English,  merely,  is  con- 
cerned, is  too  vast  a  project  for  the  individual  industry.  Indus- 
tries vary  in  wealth,  equipment,  stability  of  labor,  hours,  and  in  a 
dozen  other  ways.  Teaching  the  English  language  and  citizen- 
ship to  immigrant  workmen  is  a  legitimate  part  of  public  policy. 
It  belongs  to  the  public  schools  and  the  courts  of  every  com- 
munity, aided  by  every  civic  force.  The  greatest  service  the  in- 
dustries of  any  community  can  render  to  themselves,  to  the  social 
destiny  of  their  community,  and  to  the  cause  of  our  national  soli- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  301 

darity  is  to  back  their  organized  support  solidly  up  against  the 
public  school  system  in  its  task  of  making  English-speaking  resi- 
dents and  citizens  of  every  family  in  the  community.  American- 
ization is  a  civic  matter.  The  need  of  it  now  is  a  national  crisis. 

The  swiftest  hope  of  Americanization  lies  in  the  active  prac- 
tical cooperation  of  employers,  the  public  schools,  the  courts,  and 
bodies  of  patriotic  citizens.  In  this  work  of  preparedness  it  will 
often  be  left  to  industries  to  take  the  initiative.  It  is  their  privi- 
lege to  do  so. 

It  is  the  privilege  and  it  is  the  duty  of  club  women  to  give 
their  time,  their  powers  of  instruction  and  their  enthusiasm  to 
the  work  of  getting  our  language  and  understanding  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  common  life  into  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the 
foreign-born  women.  Once  start  these  foreign  women  in  the 
paths  of  learning  and  your  task  is  not  difficult ;  they  believe  in 
you,  and  after  a  little  while  will  break  away  from  their  hide- 
bound traditions  and  will  become  plastic  for  your  moulding. 

It  is  always  touching  to  attend  a  class  of  foreign-born  women 
with  wistful  faces  and  childlike  faith  in  the  instructors,  trying, 
oh,  so  intently,  to  follow  the  sounds  of  the  letters  and  words,  and 
to  trace  those  letters  and  words  from  the  blackboard.  The  prog- 
ress made  by  hard-working  housemothers,  who  slip  away  from 
their  many  duties  for  a  half  hour  or  hour  in  the  afternoon  on 
certain  days  of  the  week,  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities 
offered  by  school  or  other  social  center  is  simply  marvelous. 
The  reading  aloud  by  them  of  the  word  or  of  the  simple  sentence, 
the  struggle  to  get  just  the  right  inflection,  the  giving  of  them- 
selves to  this  great  effort,  is  a  tremendous  thing  to  see.  It  is 
courage  personified — it  is  the  keen  desire  to  keep  up  with  their 
children,  to  know  for  themselves  the  things  they  are  living  in 
the  midst  of,  to  get  to  a  point  of  writing  and  speaking  a  common 
language.  And  you  never  fail  to  see  all  this  in  any  little  class 
of  foreign-born  adult  women. 

Well  circumstanced  men  and  women  of  any  community,  to 
help  in  this  development  of  citizenship  is  not  an  isolated  piece  of 
welfare  work  directed  toward  the  alien  group  by  the  more  for- 
tunate of  the  community,  but  the  sharing  of  rights  and  traditions 
and  principles  by  Americans  with  Americans. 

Annals  of  Amer.  Acad.  of  Polit.  and  Social  Science.  64:204-9.  March, 
1916. 


302  RACE-ASSIMILATION 


AMERICANIZATION:    A    CONSERVATION 
POLICY  FOR   INDUSTRY 

FRANCES  A.  KELLOR 

ORGANIZER      AND       ARDENT       ADVOCATE       OF       AMERICANIZATION, 
NATIONAL   AMERICANIZATION   COMMITTEE,    NEW   YORK   CITY. 

We  hear  much  these  days  of  a  new  term.  It  is  called  Amer- 
icanization. We  use  it  rather  glibly— it  sounds  well,  but  what 
does  it  mean?  It  means  somehow  or  other  that  America  shall 
profit  by  what  immigrants  bring  in  addition  to  their  labor;  it 
means  that  along  with  rights  go  duties ;  it  means  that  Americans 
must  give  more  to  the  foreigner  than  a  job  and  a  bunk  to  sleep 
in;  that  in  some  way  we  must  all  have  a  more  common  under- 
standing of  the  opportunities  and  ideals  of  America;  of  the 
meaning  of  her  institutions  and  liberties;  and  that  we  can  con- 
verse in  a  common  language  and  stand  up  under  one  flag. 

Americanizing  America  is  the  task  and  responsibility  of 
Americans.  There  is  no  subterfuge,  excuse,  or  sophistry  by 
which  native  born  sons  can  escape  this  duty.  Many  bewail  the 
fate  of  the  American  who  lives  in  a  tenement  or  town  made 
unendurable  by  foreigners,  but  the  custody  of  America's  institu- 
tions, liberties  and  destinies  belongs  to  native  born  Americans. 
The  trouble  is  they  have  found  it  easier  to  retreat  than  advance, 
easier  to  move  than  to  change  their  environment,  easier  to  os- 
tracize than  to  tolerate  and  educate  their  foreign  born  neighbors. 
Making  money  and  being  comfortable  and  not  seeing  the  other 
side  of  American  life  has  been  the  easiest  way  out.  , 

We  are  face  to  face  with  two  fundamental  propositions  in  our 
Americanization  movement.  Our  citizenship  toll  is  heavy  in  our 
waste  of  men.  The  very  essence  of  preparedness  is  to  keep 
every  man  in  America  in  the  best  possible  physical  and  spiritual 
condition,  and  the  place  to  do  it  is  the  industry,  and  the  indus- 
trial community.  v 

Important  as  the  cities  are,  the  strength  of  this  nation  does 
not  rest  in  the  greatest  cities.  There  areTfeast  of  the  Alleghenies 
some  500  so  called  munitions  plants,  upon  which  we  must  rely 
mainly  in  time  of  war.  Not  one  is  in  New  York  City  or  Boston. 
The  most  vulnerable  point  in  our  transportation  system  is  not  at 
the  terminal ;  it  is  at  the  various  points  from  which  supplies  and 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  303 

men  must  be  started  with  ease  and  rapidity  and  carried  along, 
and  the  coordination  of  the  interlocking  systems  throughout  the 
country.  The  Lake  Superior  copper  region  may  in  a  moment 
become  more  important  than  any  seaport  city.  We  must  there- 
fore look  to  our  thousands  of  industries  scattered  throughout 
the  land  for  our  fundamental  preparedness. 

Americanization  which  looks  to  the  unity  of  all  peoples  in 
America  behind  America's  flag  on  American  soil,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  industry,  covers  three  main  subjects.  Our  existing  in- 
dustries have  so  overgrown  themselves  and  everything  else  that 
we  have  to  arrive  at  our  goal  chiefly  by  processes  of  elimination. 
In  our  response  to  war  orders  and  building  plants  we  seem 
in  some  instances  to  have  forgotten  every  standard  of  health, 
decency  and  comfort.  We  build  plants  without  houses  for  work- 
men; we  build  houses  without  sanitation  or  comfort;  we  build 
towns  without  streets  or  government  almost  over-night ;  we  work 
men  overtime  until  the  symbol  of  America  is  the  dollar — there- 
fore we  have  to  build  our  Americanization  platform  by  elimina- 
tion. 

The  first  fundamental  proposition  in  industrial  preparedness 
is  the  elimination  of  the  physical  toll  by  such  physical  construc- 
tion of  the  plant  as  will  give  the  best  possible  conditions  in  light, 
air,  freedom  from  dust,  wash  and  lunch  rooms  and  appliances 
for  preventing  and  for  dealing  with  accidents. 

The  second  fundamental  proposition  is  the  elimination  of 
production  tolls  by  economy  in  administration,  elimination  of 
waste,  etc.,  by  the  adoption  of  so-called  efficiency  methods. 

The  third  fundamental  proposition  is  the  elimination  of  cit- 
izenship tolls  (because  in  the  last  analysis  the  country  pays  the 
bills),  by  the  adoption  of  methods  which  will  conserve  workmen 
and  stabilize  the  labor  market. 

The  labor  turnover  in  this  country  in  various  industries  is 
appalling.  Germany  would  consider  it  military  suicide  and 
France  would  deal  with  it  as  a  national  disgrace.  With  our  sea- 
sonal industries,  our  indifference  to  responsibility  for  dovetail- 
ing, our  methods  of  employment,  we  find  the  average  industry 
employing  anywhere  from  two  to  five  men  to  keep  one  at  a  cost 
of  $30  per  man  for  every  one  employed.  I  submit  as  a  funda- 
mental proposition  that  we  cannot  use  to  any  great  advantage 
any  of  our  chief  Americanization  agencies — the  school,  the  nat- 
uralization court,  the  home,  the  community  responsibility,  per- 


304  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

sonal  friendships  or  a  stake  in  America — with  the  man  who  goes 
from  industry  to  industry,  from  town  to  camp,  and  who  finally 
comes  to  regard  the  saloon  as  the  one  agency  adapted  to  his 
needs  and  always  open.  By  our  present  system  the  immigrant 
peasant  who  has  lived  all  his  life  in  his  home  village,  becomes 
the  itinerant  workman  of  America  and  the  greatest  of  our  state 
"trotters." 

We  shall  never  stabilize  the  labor  market  by  legislation.  We 
may  facilitate  it  by  a  national  system  of  employment  exchanges 
which  may  also  point  the  way,  but  the  task  is  to  be  done  in 
every  small  industry  and  every  large  industry  under  the  spur  of 
economy  and  in  a  spirit  of  national  preparedness.  The  industry 
must  install  an  employment  department  under  capable  manage- 
ment which  will  enable  it  to  know  its  men  and  place  them  in  the 
first  instance  effectively  throughout  the  plant.  This  must  be 
supplemented  with  a  fair  system  of  promotions  and  transfers 
based  on  efficiency  records ;  and  dismissals  should  not  be  made 
without  giving  the  employee  a  hearing  and  attempting  adjustment. 

Most  important  in  stabilizing  the  labor  supply  is  the  wide  ex- 
tension of  insurance  to  include  accidents,  industrial  diseases, 
health,  sickness  and  service  annuities.  The  basis  of  securing 
these  is  the  widest  possible  education  upon  the  subject  of  labor 
turnover — its  cost  and  causes.  We  need  first  a  campaign  on 
labor  turnover  as  a  menace  to  preparedness  which  will  cause 

every  employer  to  look  into  his  own  status  on  this  subject. 
****** 

It  is  the  essence  of  justice  that  no  man  be  deprived  of  the 
opportunity  to  earn  his  living  because  of  lack  of  knowledge  of 
English  and  citizenship  unless  every  facility  be  provided  for 
learning  these  and  fitting  himself  for  citizenship.  It  is,  how- 
ever, true,  that  our  schools  will  remain  empty,  even  with  com- 
pulsory education  laws,  as  in  Massachusetts,  that  our  citizenship 
preparation  and  examinations  will  remain  in  most  instances  a 
political  farce,  until  industries  make  American  citizenship  their 
immediate  responsibility. 

Amer.  Acad.  of  Polit.  and  Social  Science.  65:240-4.  May,   1916. 


LABOR  UNIONS 


AMERICANIZATION   BY  LABOR  UNIONS 
JOHN  R.  COMMONS 

PROFESSOR    OF    ECONOMICS,    UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN 

This  effort  of  organized  labor  to  organize  the  unskilled  and 
the  immigrant  is  the  largest  and  most  significant  fact  of  the 
present  labor  movement.  Apart  from  the  labor  question  itself,  it 
means  the  enlistment  of  a  powerful  self  interest  in  what  may  be 
termed  the  Americanization  of  the  foreign  born.  For  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  only  effective  Americanizing  force  for 
the  southeastern  European  is  the  labor  union.  The  children  of 
the  foreigner  become  Americans  through  the  public  schools,  but 
the  foreigner  himself  receives  no  organized  instruction  in  Amer- 
icanism until  the  labor  union  reaches  out  for  him.  Aside  from 
the  public  school  and  the  labor  unions  the  only  influences  that 
might  be  expected  to  lift  him  into  the  atmosphere  of  our  democ- 
racy are  those  of  the  church  and  the  electoral  suffrage.  The 
church  to  which  he  gives  allegiance  is  the  Roman  Catholic,  and, 
however  much  the  Catholic  Church  may  do  for  the  ignorant 
peasant  in  his  European  home,  such  instruction  as  the  priest 
gives  is  likely  to  tend  toward  an  acceptance  of  their  subservient 
position  on  the  part  of  the  workingmen.  It  is  a  frequently  ob- 
served fact  that  when  immigrants  join  a  labor  union  they  almost 
insolently  warn  the  priest  to  keep  his  advice  to  himself. 

Universal  suffrage  admits  the  immigrant  to  American  politics 
within  one  to  five  years  after  landing.  But  the  suffrage  is  not 
looked  upon  today  as  the  sufficient  Americanizing  force  that  a 
preceding  generation  imagined.  The  suffrage  appeals  very  dif- 
ferently to  the  immigrant  voter  and  to  the  voter  who  has  come 
up  through  the  American  schools  and  American  life.  The 
American  has  learned  not  only  that  this  is  a  free  government, 
but  that  its  freedom  is  based  on  constitutional  principles  of  an 
abstract  nature.  Freedom  of  the  press,  trial  by  jury,  separation 
of  powers,  independence  of  the  judiciary,  and  several  other 
governmental  and  legal  principles  have  percolated  through  his 
subconscious  self,  and  when  he  contemplates  public  questions 


306  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

these  abstract  principles  have  more  or  less  influence  as  a  guide  to 
his  ballot.  But  the  immigrant  has  none  of  these.  He  comes 
here  solely  to  earn  a  better  living.  The  suffrage  is  nothing  to 
him  but  a  means  of  livelihood.  Not  that  he  readily  sells  his  vote 
for  money — rather  does  he  simply  "vote  for  his  job."  He  votes 
as  instructed  by  his  employer  or  his  political  "boss,"  because  it 
will  help  his  employer's  business  or  because  his  boss  will  get  him 
a  job,  or  will,  in  some  way,  favor  him  and  others  of  his  na- 
tionality. There  is  a  noticeable  difference  between  the  immi- 
grant and  the  children  of  the  immigrant  in  this  regard.  The 
young  men,  when  they  begin  to  vote,  can  be  appealed  to  on  the 
ground  of  public  spirit ;  their  fathers  can  be  reached  only  on  the 
ground  of  private  interest. 

Now  it  cannot  be  expected  that  the  labor  union  or  any  other 
influence  will  greatly  change  the  immigrant  in  this  respect.  But 
the  union  does  this  much :  it  requires  every  member  to  be  a  cit- 
izen or  to  have  declared  his  intention  of  taking  out  naturalization 
papers.  The  reasons  for  doing  this  are  not  political;  they  are 
sentimental  and  patriotic.  The  union  usually  takes  pride  in 
showing  that  its  members  are  Americans  and  have  foregone  al- 
legiance to  other  countries.  Again,  the  union  frees  its  members 
from  the  dictation  of  employers,  bosses  and  priests.  Politicians, 
of  course,  strive  to  control  the  vote  of  organized  labor,  but  so 
disappointing  has  been  the  experience  of  the  unions  that  they 
have  quite  generally  come  to  distrust  the  leader  who  combines 
labor  and  politics.  The  immigrant  who  votes  as  a  unionist  has 
taken  the  first  step,  in  casting  his  ballot,  towards  considering  the 
interests  of  others,  and  this  is  also  the  first  step  towards  giving 
public  spirit  and  abstract  principles  a  place  alongside  private  in- 
terest and  his  own  job. 

But  there  is  another  way,  even  more  impressive,  in  which  the 
union  asserts  the  preeminence  of  principles  over  immediate  self- 
interest.  When  the  foreigner  from  Southern  Europe  is  inducted 
into  the  union,  then,  for  the  first  time  does  he  get  the  idea  that 
his  job  belongs  to  him  by  virtue  of  a  right  to  work  and  not  as 
the  personal  favor  or  whim  of  a  boss.  These  people  are  utterly 
obsequious  before  their  foremen  or  bosses,  and  it  is  notorious 
that  nearly  always  they  pay  for  the  privilege  of  getting  and  keep- 
ing a  job.  This  bribery  of  bosses,  as  well  as  the  padrone  system, 
proceeds  from  the  deep-seated  conviction  that  despotism  is  the 
natural  social  relation,  and  that  therefore  they  must  make  terms 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  307 

with  the  influential  superior  who  is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  favor 
with  the  higher  powers. 

The  anthracite  coal  operators  represented  such  men,  prior  to 
joining  the  union,  as  disciplined  and  docile  workmen,  but  in  do- 
ing so  they  disregarded  the  fact  that  outside  the  field  where  they 
were  obsequious  they  were  most  violent,  treacherous  and  fac- 
tional. Before  the  organization  of  the  union  in  the  coal  fields 
these  foreigners  were  given  over  to  the  most  bitter  and  often 
murderous  feifds  among  the  ten  or  fifteen  nationalities  and  the 
two  or  three  factions  within  each  nationality.  The  Polish  wor- 
shipers of  a  given  saint  would  organize  a  night  attack  on  the 
Polish  worshippers  of  another  saint;  the  Italians  from  the  one 
province  would  have  a  knife  for  the  Italians  of  another  province, 
and  so  on. 

When  the  union  was  organized  all  antagonisms  of  race,  re- 
ligion and  faction  were  eliminated.  The  immigrants  came  down 
to  an  economic  basis  and  turned  their  forces  against  their  bosses. 
"We  fellows  killed  this  country,"  said  a  Polish  striker  to  Father 
Curran,  "and  now  we  are  going  to  make  it."  The  sense  of  a 
common  cause,  and,  more  than  all  else,  the  sense  of  individual 
rights  as  men,  have  come  to  these  people  through  the  organiza- 
tion of  their  labor  unions,  and  it  could  come  in  no  other  way, 
for  the  union  appeals  to  their  necessities  while  other  forces  ap- 
peal to  their  prejudices.  They  are  even  yet  far  from  ideal  Amer- 
icans, but  those  who  have  hitherto  imported  them  and  profited 
by  their  immigration  should  be  the  last  to  cry  out  against  the 
chief  influence  that  has  started  them  on  the  way  to  true  Amer- 
icanism. 

The    World   Today.      October,    1903. 


3o8  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

THE   RIGHT    TO    LABOR    IN    JOY 
EDWIN  MARKHAM 

Out  on  the  roads  they  have  gathered,  a 

hundred-thousand  men, 
To  ask  for  a  hold  on  life  as  sure  as  the 

wolf's  hold  in  his  den. 
Their  need  lies  close  to  the  quick  of  life 

as  rain  to  the  furrow  sown : 
It  is  as  meat  to  the  slender  rib,  as  marrow 

to  the  bone. 

They  ask  but  the  leave  to  labor  for  a 

taste  of  life's  delight, 
For  a  little  salt  to  savor  their  bread,  for 

houses  watertight. 
They  ask  but  the  right  to  labor,  and  to 

live  by  the  strength  of  their  hands 
They  who  have  bodies  like  knotted  oaks, 

and  patience  like  sea-sands. 

And  the  right  of  a  man  to  labor  and  his 

right  to  labor  in  joy 
Not  all  your  laws  can  strangle  that  right, 

nor  the  gates  of  Hell  destroy. 
For  it  came  with  the  making  of  man  and 

was  kneaded  into  his  bones, 
And  it  will  stand  at  the  last  of  things  on 

the  dust  of  crumbled  thrones. 

The  Shoes  of  Happiness,  and  other  poems,  p.   126.     New  York,  Double- 
day,  Page  and  co.,  1913. 


POLITICS 


NATURALIZED    IMMIGRANTS    AND 
POLITICAL  LEADERS 

EDWARD  ALSWORTH   Ross 

PROFESSOR  OF  SOCIOLOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   WISCONSIN 

"Come  over  here  quick,  Luigi,"  writes  an  Italian  to  his  friend 
in  Palermo.  "This  is  a  wonderful  country.  You  can  do  any- 
thing you  want  to,  and,  beside,  they  give  you  a  vote  you  can  get 
two  dollars  for!"  This  Italian  was  an  ignorant  man,  but  not 
necessarily  a  bad  man.  It  would  not  be  just  to  look  upon  the 
later  naturalized  citizens  as  caring  less  for  the  suffrage  than  the 
older  immigrants.  Some  of  them  appreciate  the  ballot  all  the 
more  from  having  been  denied  it  in  the  old  country.  For  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Fourth  of  July  they  show 
a  naive  enthusiasm  which  we  Americans  felt  a  generation  ago, 
before  our  muck  had  been  raked.  "The  spirit  of  revolt  against 
wrong,"  says  a  well-known  worker  among  immigrants,  "is 
stronger  in  the  foreign-born  than  in  the  natives,  because  they 
come  here  expecting  so  much  democracy,  and  they  are  shocked 
by  the  reality  they  find.  It  is  they  who  insist  upon  the  complete 
program  of  social  justice."  Granting  all  this,  there  is  no  deny- 
ing, however,  that  many  of  the  later  immigrants  have  only  a  dim 
understanding  of  what  the  ballot  means  and  how  it  may  be  used. 

Thirty  years  ago  we  knew  as  little  of  the  ways  of  the  ward 
boss  as  we  knew  of  the  megatherium  or  the  great  auk.  The 
sources  of  his  powrer  were  as  mysterious  as  were  the  sources  of 
the  Nile  before  Speke  and  Baker.  Now,  thanks  to  Miss  Addams 
and  other  settlement-workers  who  have  studied  him  in  action 
from  close  at  hand,  we  have  him  on  a  film.  The  ward  boss  was 
the  discoverer  of  the  fact  that  the  ordinary  immigrant  is  a  very 
poor,  ignorant  and  helpless  man,  in  the  greatest  need  of  assist- 
ance and  protection.  Nevertheless,  this  man  has,  or  soon  will 
have,  one  thing  the  politician  greatly  covets,  namely,  a  vote. 
The  petty  politician  soon  learned  that  by  befriending  and  aiding 
the  foreigners  at  the  right  time,  he  could  build  up  an  "influence" 
which  he  might  use  or  sell  to  his  own  enrichment.  So  the  ward 


310  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

politicians  became  pioneers  in  social  work.  For  the  sake  of  con- 
trolling votes,  they  did  many  things  that  the  social  settlement 
does  for  nothing. 

It  is  Alderman  Tim  who  gets  the  Italian  a  permit  for  his 
push-cart  or  fruit-stand,  who  finds  him  a  city-hall  job,  or  a  place 
with  a  public-service  corporation,  who  protects  him  if  he  vio- 
lates law  or  ordinance  in  running  his  business,  who  goes  his  bail 
\f  he  is  arrested,  and  "fixes  things"  with  the  police  judge  or  the 
State's  attorney  when  he  comes  to  trial  Even  before  Giuseppe 
is  naturalized,  it  is  Tim  who  remembers  him  at  Christmas  with  a 
big  turkey,  pays  his  rent  at  a  pinch,  or  wins  his  undying  grati- 
tude by  saving  his  baby  from  a  pauper  burial  or  sending  car- 
riages and  flowers  to  the  funeral. 

All  this  kindness  and  timely  aid  is  prompted  by  selfish  mo- 
tives. Amply  is  Tim  repaid  by  Giuseppe's  vote  on  election  day. 
But  at  first  Giuseppe  misses  the  secret  of  the  politician's  interest 
in  him,  and  votes  Tim-wise  as  one  shows  a  favor  to  a  friend. 
Little  does  he  dream  of  the  dollar-harvest  from  the  public-ser- 
vice companies  and  the  vice  interests  Tim  reaps  with  the  "power" 
he  has  built  up  out  of  the  votes  of  the  foreigners.  If,  however, 
Giuseppe  starts  to  be  independent  in  the  election  booth,  he  is 
startled  by  the  Jekyll-Hyde  transformation  of  his  erstwhile 
friend  and  patron.  He  is  menaced  with  loss  of  job,  withdrawal 
of  permit  or  license.  Suddenly  the  current  is  turned  on  in  the 
city  ordinances  affecting  him,  and  he  is  horrified  to  find  himself 
in  a  mysterious  network  of  live  wires.  With  the  connivance  of 
a  corrupt  police  force,  Tim  can  even  ruin  him  on  a  trumped-up 
charge. 

The  law  of  Pennsylvania  allows  any  voter  who  demands  it  to 
receive  "assistance"  in  the  marking  of  his  ballot.  So  in  Pitts- 
burgh, Tim  expects  Giuseppe  to  demand  "assistance"  and  to  take 
Tim  with  him  into  the  booth  to  mark  his  ballot  for  him.  Some- 
times the  election  judges  let  Tim  thrust  himself  into  the  booth 
despite  the  foreigner's  protest,  and  watch  how  he  marks  his  bal- 
lot. In  one  precinct  92  per  cent,  of  the  voters  received  "as- 
sistance." Two  Italians  who  refused  it  lost  their  jobs  forthwith. 
The  high-spirited  North  Italians  resent  such  intrusion,  and  some 
of  them  threaten  to  cut  to  pieces  such  intrusion,  and  some 
of  them  threaten  to  cut  to  pieces  the  interloper.  But  always  the 
system  is  too  strong  for  them. 

Thus  the  way  of  Tim  is  to  allure  or  to  intimidate,  or  even 
combine  the  two.  The  immigrant  erecting  a  little  store  is  vis- 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  3" 

ited  by  a  building  inspector  and  warned  that  his  interior  ar- 
rangements are  all  wrong.  His  friends  urge  the  distracted  man 
to  "see  Tim."  He  does  so,  and  kind  Tim  "fixes  it  up,"  gaining 
thereby  another  loyal  henchman.  The  victim  never  learns  that 
the  inspector  was  sent  to  teach  him  the  need  of  a  protector.  So 
long  as  the  immigrant  is  "right,"  he  may  put  an  encroaching 
bay-window  on  his  house  or  store,  keep  open  his  saloon  after 
midnight,  or  pack  into  his  lodging-house  more  than  the  legal 
number  of  lodgers.  Moved  ostensibly  by  a  deep  concern  for 
public  health  or  safety  or  morals,  the  city  council  enacts  a  great 
variety  of  health,  building  and  trades  ordinances,  in  order  that 
Tim  may  have  plenty  of  clubs  to  hold  over  the  foreigner's  head. 

So  between  boss  and  immigrant  grows  up  a  relation  like  that 
between  a  feudal  lord  and  his  vassals.  In  return  for  the  boss's 
help  and  protection,  the  immigrant  gives  regularly  his  vote.  The 
small  fry  get  drinks  or  jobs,  or  help  in  time  of  trouble.  The 
padrone,  liquor-dealer,  or  lodging-house  keeper  gets  license  or 
permit  or  immunity  from  prosecution,  provided  he  "delivers"  the 
votes  of  enough  of  his  fellow  countrymen.  The  ward  boss 
realizes  perfectly  what  his  political  power  rests  on,  and  is  very 
conscientious  in  looking  after  his  supporters. 

Of  the  Irish  "gray  wolves"  in  the  Chicago  council  I  was  told, 
"Each  of  them  is  a  natural  ward  leader,  and  will  go  through 
hell-fire  for  his  people  and  they  for  him." 

To  the  boss  with  the  hold  on  the  immigrant  the  requirement 
that  the  poor  fellow  shall  live  five  years  in  this  country  before 
voting  presents  itself  as  an  empty  legal  formality.  In  1905  a 
special  examiner  of  the  Federal  Department  of  Justice  reported : 
"Naturalization  frauds  have  grown  and  spread  with  the  growth 
and  spread  of  the  alien  population  of  the  United  States,  until 
there  is  scarcely  a  city  or  county-seat  town — where  in  some  form 
these  frauds  have  not  from  time  to  time  been  committed."  In 
1845  a  Louisiana  judge  was  impeached  and  removed  for  fraud, 
the  principal  evidence  being  that  he  had  issued  certificates  to  400 
aliens  in  one  day.  The  legislature  might  have  been  more  lenient 
could  it  have  foreseen  that  in  1868  a  single  judge  in  New  York 
would  issue  2,500  of  such  certificates  in  one  day!  The  gigantic 
naturalization  frauds  committed  in  the  Presidential  campaign  of 
1868  resulted  in  an  investigation  by  Congress  and  in  the  placing 
of  congressional  elections  under  Federal  supervision.  During 
the  month  of  October  two  New  York  judges  issued  54,000  cer- 


312  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

tificates.  An  investigation  in  1902  showed  about  25,000  fraudu- 
lent certificates  of  naturalization  in  use  in  that  city. 

There  is  hardly  need  nowadays  to  recount  what  Tim  and  his 
kind  have  done  with  the  power  they  filched  through  the  votes  of 
Giuseppe  and  Jan  and  Michael.  They  have  sold  out  the  city  to 
the  franchise-seeking  corporations.  They  have  jobbed  public 
works  and  pocketed  a  "rake-off"  on  all  municipal  supplies.  They 
have  multiplied  jobs  and  filled  them  with  lazy  henchmen.  By 
making  merchandise  of  building  laws  or  health  ordinances,  they 
have  caused  an  unknown  number  of  people  to  be  crushed,  or 
burned,  or  poisoned-. 

Worst  of  all,  by  selling  immunity  from  police  interference  to 
the  vice  interests,  they  have  let  the  race  be  preyed  on  and  con- 
sumed in  the  bud.  Thanks  to  their  "protection,"  a  shocking  pro- 
portion of  the  inhabitants  of  our  cities  of  mixed  population  are 
destroyed  by  drinking,  dissipation,  and  venereal  diseases. 

It  is  in  the  cities  with  many  naturalized  foreigners  or  en- 
franchised negroes  that  the  vice  interests  have  had  the  freest 
hand  in  exploiting  and  degrading  the  people.  These  foreigners 
have  no  love  for  vice,  but  unwittingly  they  become  the  corner- 
stone of  the  system  that  supports  it.  The  city  that  has  had  the 
most  and  the  rawest  foreign-born  voters  is  the  city  of  the  long- 
est and  closest  partnership  of  the  police  with  vice.  Tammany 
Hall  first  gained  power  by  its  "voting  gangs"  of  foreigners,  and 
ever  since  its  Old  Guard  has  been  the  ignorant,  naturalized  im- 
migrants. Exposed  again  and  again,  and  thought  to  be  shat- 
tered, Tammany  has  survived  all  shocks,  because  its  supply  of 
raw  material  has  never  been  cut  off.  Not  the  loss  of  its  friends 
has  ever  defeated  it;  only  the  union  of  its  foes.  The  only 
things  it  fears  are  those  that  bore  from  within — social  settle- 
ments, social  centers,  the  quick  intelligence  of  the  immigrant 
Hebrew,  stricter  naturalization,  and  restriction  of  immigration. 

In  every  American  city  with  a  large  pliant  foreign  vote  have 
appeared  the  boss,  the  machine,  and  the  Tammany  way.  Once 
the  machine  gets  a  grip  on  the  situation,  it  broadens  and  en- 
trenches its  power  by  intimidation  at  the  polls,  ballot  frauds, 
vote  purchase,  saloon  influence,  and  the  support  of  the  vicious 
and  criminal.  But  its  taproot  is  the  simple-minded  foreigner  or 
negro,  and  without  them  no  lasting  vicious  political  control  has 
shown  itself  in  any  of  our  cities. 

The  machine  in  power  used  the  foreigner  to  keep  in  power. 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  313 

The  Italian  who  opens  an  ice-cream  parlor  has  to  have  a  victual- 
er's  license,  and  he  can  keep  this  license  only  by  delivering  Italian 
votes.  The  Polish  saloon-keeper  loses  his  liquor  license  if  he 
fails  to  line  up  his  fellow-countrymen  for  the  local  machine. 
The  politician  who  can  get  dispensations  for  the  foreigners  who 
want  their  beer  on  a  Sunday  picnic  is  the  man  who  attracts  the 
foreign  vote.  Thus,  until  they  get  their  eyes  open  and  see  how 
they  are  being  used,  the  foreigners  constitute  an  asset  of  the  es- 
tablished political  machine,  neutralizing  the  anti-machine  ballots 
of  an  equal  number  of  indignant  intelligent  American  voters. 

The  saloon  is  often  an  independent  swayer  of  the  foreign  vote 
The  saloon-keeper  is  interested  in  fighting  all  legal  regulations  of 
his  own  business,  and  of  other  businesses — gambling,  dancehalls, 
and  prostitution — which  stimulate  drinking.  If  "blue"  laws  are 
on  the  statute-book,  these  interests  may  combine  to  seat  in  the 
mayor's  chair  a  man  pledged  not  to  enforce  them.  Even  if  the 
saloon-keeper  has  no  political  ax  of  his  own  to  grind,  his  mas- 
ters, the  brewers,  will  insist  that  he  get  out  the  vote  for  the  ben- 
efit of  themselves  or  their  friends.  Since  liberal  plying  with  beer 
is  a  standard  means  of  getting  out  the  foreign  vote,  the  immi- 
grant saloon-keeper  is  obliged  to  become  the  debaucher  and  be- 
trayer of  his  fellow-countrymen.  In  Chicago  the  worthy  Ger- 
mans and  Bohemians  are  marshaled  in  the  "United  Societies,"  os- 
tensibly social  organizations  along  nationality  lines,  but  really  the 
machinery  through  which  the  brewers  and  liquor-dealers  may 
sway  the  foreign-born  vote  not  only  in  defense  of  liquor,  but 
also  in  defense  of  other  corrupt  and  affiliated  interests. 

Tht   Old    World  in   the  New.   pp.   266-76.   New  York.   Macmillan.    1913- 


314  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

WANTED— A    PLACE    TO    PLAY 
DENNIS  A.  MCCARTHY 

Plenty  of  room   for  dives  and  dens 
(glitter  and  glare  and  sin!) 

Plenty  of  room  for  prison  pens 
(gather  the  criminals  in!) 

Plenty  of  room  for  jails,  and  courts 
(willing  enough  to  pay!) 

But  never  a  place  for  the  lads  to  race; 
no,  never  a  place  for  play! 

Give  them  a  chance  for  innocent  sport, 

give  them  a  chance  for  fun : 
Better  a  playground  plot  than  a  court 

and  a  jail  when  the  harm  is  done! 
Give  them  a  chance — if  you  stint  them 

now,  tomorrow  you'll  have  to  pay 
A  larger  bill  for  a  darker  ill ;    so  give 

them  a  chance  to  play! 

"A  Round  of  Rimes,"  New  York.  Little,  Brown  &  Co.,   1915. 


RECREATION 

OUR  RECREATION   FACILITIES   AND  THE 
IMMIGRANT 

BY  VICTOR  VON  BOROSINI 

STUDENT  OF  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS, 

HULL  HOUSE,  CHICAGO 

From  May  to  October  is  the  busiest  season  of  the  playgrounds 
in  Chicago.  Then  the  open-air  facilities  are  taxed  to  their  ut- 
most, the  gymnasiums,  athletic  fields  and  tennis  courts,  wading- 
ponds  and  swimming-pools.  The  playgrounds  proper,  with  sand- 
piles  and  wading-ponds,  are  for  the  use  of  children  under  ten 
years  of  age,  and  are  equipped  with  some  apparatus  for  the  en- 
joyment and  play  of  the  users.  The  wading-pond  is  one  feature 
that  attracts  grown-up  women  to  the  parks.  While  their  little 
ones  enjoy  the  cool,  refreshing  water,  or  play  in  the  sand,  with 
absolute  freedom  from  danger,  the  mothers  sit  on  the  benches, 
protected  from  the  sun,  sewing  or  doing  other  needlework  and 
chatting  with  each  other.  Quite  naturally,  groups  of  one  na- 
tionality form  quickly,  but  as  this  sense  is  undeveloped  in  chil- 
dren, and  as  they  mix  with  each  other,  their  mothers  will,  sooner 
or  later  do  likewise.  Children  are  mostly  benefited,  as  the 
fatiguing  day's  work  generally  prevents  the  grown-up  people  from 
enjoying  much  physical  exercise,  except,  perhaps,  the  swimming. 
The  swimming-pools  and  beaches  are  the  most  popular  features, 
and  not  only  the  men  but  the  foreign  women  enjoy  them  twice  a 
week.  It  does  not  cost  anything,  everything  being  free  except 
transportation  to  the  place.  After  the  refreshing  plunge  in  the 
pool  they  can  often  enjoy  a  concert  given  in  the  park  or  play- 
ground, the  fresh  air  of  a  hot  summer  night  being  far  better 
than  the  stifling  heat  in  their  homes.  In  some  enlightened  cities 
people  are  allowed  to  sleep  out  on  the  grass  when  the  heat  is 
especially  oppressive,  and  thousands  take  advantage  of  it. 

During  the  colder  season  the  shower  baths  which  are  con- 
nected with  the  gymnasiums  are  constantly  used,  much  more  so 
than  the  different  public  bathhouses  one  finds  in  some  sections  of 
the  city.  The  reason  for  this  may  lie  in  the  fact  that  the  man- 


3i6  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

agement  of  the  institutions  is  under  different  departments.  At 
the  playgrounds  you  generally  find  attendants  willing  to  serve 
the  public,  under  strict  supervision  as  to  their  manner,  while  the 
bathhouses  are  often  managed  by  incompetent  friends  of  some 
politician  in  the  city  hall.  The  indoor  and  open-air  gymnasiums 
are  only  for  children  over  ten  years  of  age  and  adults.  The  ap- 
paratus, different  in  gymnasiums  for  men  and  women,  helps  a 
large  crowd  to  play  and  practice  as  they  please,  but  likewise 
gives  the  gymnasium  instructor  opportunity  to  work  out  his  sci- 
entific and  more  formal  plan  of  physical  work.  Here,  as  well  as 
in  athletics,  foreigners  will  form  groups  of  their  own,  which  are 
brought  in  contact  with  other  groups  at  the  time  of  contests. 
Then  keen  excitement  reigns  supreme;  the  friends  of  both  com- 
peting teams  are  present  and  shout  for  their  favorites.  Defeat 
is  accepted,  but  always  with  the  hope  of  doing  better  next  time. 
In  winter,  skating  and  toboganning  are  enjoyed  by  young  and 
old. 

In  every  human  being  is  a  sense  of  beauty,  though  it  may 
sometimes  be  dormant.  None  of  the  new  recreation  centers  and 
playgrounds  can  fail  to  satisfy  the  artistic  vein  in  anybody  and 
make  him  content  and  happy  for  the  time  being.  To  counteract 
a  desire  to  go  saloons  for  drinks  and  meals,  we  find  very 
decent  lunch  counters  and  a  few  inviting  tables  in  an  especially 
fitted  room,  where  simple  meals  and  coffee  and  cocoa  are  served. 
Some  of  these  places  are  stormed  at  noon,  when  school  teachers, 
clerks  and  workingmen  take  their  luncheons  there.  Public  com- 
fort stations  connected  with  each  playground  and  field  house  are, 
indeed,  a  great  comfort,  as  well  as  an  educational  means  for 
cleanliness.  They  also  keep  men  from  going  into  the  saloons. 

If  any  time  is  left  at  the  noonday  recess  many  people  will  take 
advantage  of  the  public  branch  libraries  established  and  main- 
tained by  the  park  commissioners.  More  foreigners  would  prob- 
ably make  use  of  the  opportunity  to  increase  their  knowledge, 
and  to  enjoy  a  restful  half-hour  at  other  times,  if  these  libraries 
were  stocked  with  some  foreign  books  and  magazines.  But  al- 
most no  provision  is  made  for  the  different  nationalities  living 
around  the  parks,  and  the  result  is  that,  as  a  rule,  only  young 
people  are  seen  in  the  reading  rooms.  At  some  playgrounds 
children  are  sent  home  from  the  library  by  eight  o'clock;  adults 
are  expected  to  take  their  places,  and,  in  fact,  have  come  in  large 
numbers.  Quite  naturally,  they  objected  to  the  presence  of 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  317 

crowdi  of  children.  In  other  cities  the  plan  of  having  separate 
rooms  for  adults  and  children  has  been  adopted  with  good  suc- 
cess. Smoking  is  not  allowed  inside  of  the  field  houses  and 
small  parks,  which  is  probably  another  reason  for  the  men's  not 
coming  in  greater  numbers.  During  the  afternoon  and  evening 
hours  the  large  rooms  and  halls  of  the  parks  and  recreation 
centers  serve  other  purposes.  Children  come  after  school  hours 
for  socials,  story-telling  hours;  girls,  for  some  kind  of  training 
in  cooking  and  domestic  science.  Often  they  have  rehearsals  at 
this  time  for  a  singing  contest,  or  a  little  children's  plaj',  to  be 
given  at  8  P.  M.  in  the  large  auditorium.  Not  only  children  play, 
but  clubs  and  societies  of  grown-ups  can  have  the  privilege  of  the 
hall  for  the  asking.  Then,  too,  they  have  theatricals,  musicals 
and  dancing.  Music  they  furnish  themselves,  also  refreshments, 
and  in  the  hall  they  keep  order,  while  outside  there  are  always 
special  park  policemen  on  the  lookout.  Men  will  still  rush  out 
and  go  to  a  saloon  for  a  drink  or  smoke,  though  the  drinking 
has  been  stopped  to  some  extent.  The  influence  of  the  hall  upon 
dance  halls  in  the  neighborhood,  and  upon  the  way  of  dancing 
and  the  whole  atmosphere,  has  been  especially  felt  at  the  small 
parks,  while  in  Bohemian  and  Polish  neighborhoods  they  have 
been  so  successful  that  several  dance  halls  back  of  saloons  have 
had  to  be  closed  because  their  business  has  declined.  Girls  espe- 
cially like  nice  environments  and  decent  conditions,  such  as  are 
found  in  the  field  houses.  What  people  do  in  one  of  the  South 
Chicago  parks,  at  Bessemer,  may  be  best  demonstrated  by  two 
clippings  from  the  Daily  Calumet,  their  local  paper 

"Business  is  good  at  Bessemer.    Among  other  things  that  will 
take  place  at  the  park  this  week  are  as  follows : 
Tonight— 

7 :  30.     Bessemer  Orchestra  practice. 
Tuesday — 

2 : 30.     Bessemer  Housekeepers'  Club,  consisting  of  seventy- 
five  wives,  who  get  valuable  training. 

8 :  oo.    Strugglers'  dance.    Social  club. 
Wednesday — 

8 :  oo.    Club  for  working  boys. 

8 :  oo.     Stereopticon  lecture :    Other  worlds  than  ours. 

8 :  30.     Basketball.    Armour  Square  vs.  Bessemer. 
Thursday — 

8 :  oo.     Meteor  Athletic  Dance. 


3i8  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

Friday — 

8 :  oo.  Rehearsal  of  gymnasium  classes  for  gymnastic  demon- 
stration.  Glee  Club  rehearsal,  under  direction  of 
students  of  University  of  Chicago. 

Two  hundred  young  people  enjoyed  themselves  for  hours  on 
the  Bessemer  Park  skating  pond  yesterday  afternoon.  If  the  cold 
weather  continues  it  is  very  likely  that  there  will  be  a  local  ice 
tourney  at  the  park." 

The  larger  parks  are  used  in  summer  time  by  family  groups 
for  outings  and  picnics.  Especially  fine  zoological  gardens, 
green-  and  palm-houses,  lakes  and  ponds  attract  hundreds  and 
thousands  every  Sunday,  and  there  is  no  age  limit  as  to  enjoy- 
ment. The  ponds  and  lakes  offer  opportunity  for  boating  and 
some  fishing.  Where  large  bodies  of  water  lie  not  very  far  from 
the  city,  fishing  continues  to  be  one  of  the  best-loved  sports  of 
the  foreign  population.  If  the  results  gratify  the  patience  of  the 
anglers,  the  diet  in  the  kitchen  experiences  an  agreeable  change. 
Very  few  people,  comparatively,  keep  up  their  cross-country 
tramps ;  it  may  be  that  the  absence  of  forests,  or  woods,  through 
which  one  may  roam  at  one's  pleasure,  as  in  Europe,  takes  away 
a  good  deal  of  the  fun.  The  abominations  in  the  form  of  beer 
gardens  or  amusement  parks  can  hardly  be  mentioned  here. 
They  are  not  fit  places  for  recreation. 

A  very  encouraging  movement,  when  it  shall  have  been  more 
generally  adopted,  may  provide  for  the  healthy  recreation  of 
whole  families.  I  refer  to  the  city  gardens.  European  com- 
munities are  surrounded  by  large  tracts  of  land  ultimately  to  be 
built  over,  but  for  quite  a  time  there  is  no  prospect  of  the  city's 
extending  to  them.  Such  lots  are  plotted  out,  flower  and  vege- 
table gardens  started,  and  some  kind  of  summerhouse  added,  hav- 
ing accommodations  for  pigeons  and  chickens.  That  the  garden- 
ers are  a  friendly  community  they  show  at  the  many  happy  fetes 
on  warm  midsummer  nights.  The  hard  work  done  by  every  mem- 
ber of  the  family  is  rewarded  by  a  variety  of  green  vegetables, 
very  helpful  when  everything  is  so  expensive.  At  Bessemer  Park, 
in  South  Chicago,  last  fall,  we  saw  a  splendid  exhibit  of  the 
children's  garden  products,  and  the  work  of  Mrs.  Pelham's  (of 
Hull  House)  friendly  gardeners,  belonging  to  ten  different  na- 
tionalities, was  watched  by  everyone  with  great  interest. 

The  public  library  and  its  branch  stations,  and  different  mu- 
seums and  collections,  cater  to  the  more  intelligent  of  the  foreign 


RACE-ASSIMILATION  319 

element,  and  are  very  much  used  by  them  for  their  recreation, 
The  same  can  be  said  of  the  social  settlements  which,  though  not 
maintained  as  a  public  institution  by  the  municipality,  serve  the 
general  public  and  keep  their  doors  open  for  everybody,  without 
distinction  of  race,  color  or  religion.  We  will  follow  here  espe- 
cially what  Hull  House  does  for  the  recreation  of  its  neighbors. 
The  need  and  want  of  recreation  for  young  and  old  is  generally 
conceded;  if  they  do  not  get  it  in  one  way  they  will  get  it  in 
another,  often  under  bad  conditions  in  the  city. 

Each  department  has  a  worker  or  two  as  directors.  The 
directors  of  different  groups  are  not  very  anxious  to  do  all  the 
work  themselves,  but  they  give  suggestions  when  the  members 
are  unable  to  produce  good,  workable  ideas  themselves.  Every 
detail  is  worked  out,  and  great  is  the  satisfaction  when  public 
applause  shows  success  of  the  "stunt"  or  performance.  We  find 
different  dramatic  associations  for  children,  juniors  and  seniors, 
and  their  work  has  met  a  merited  and  general  appreciation.  The 
Italian,  Lithuanian,  Russian,  Jewish,  and  Greek  neighbors  use  the 
large  auditorium  for  theatricals  of  their  own ;  even  deaf  mutes 
once  gave  a  representation  in  their  sign  language.  Good  music  is 
offered  to  a  large  crowd  of  neighbors  every  Sunday  afternoon, 
?.nd  this  is  not  an  amateur  performance ;  good  singers  and  players 
come  from  uptown  to  bring  joy  and  pleasure  to  the  hearts  of  the 
poor,  who  cannot  pay  for  concerts.  The  second  Sunday  in  Janu- 
ary a  musical  society  from  Evanston  gave  Handel's  "Messiah," 
and  though  the  hall  accommodates  800,  many  people  had  to  be 
turned  away  for  lack  of  space.  Musical  instincts  are  well  devel- 
oped among  the  Italians  and  Bohemians.  The  Hull  House  Music 
School  has  about  one  hundred  pupils,  and  the  Boy's  Club  Band 
may  number  fifty  members.  Their  open-air  concerts  during  the 
summer  were  events  for  the  whole  neighborhood. 

During  the  winter  months  Sunday  evening  lectures  are  pro- 
v-ided,  which  are  of  general  interest  and  which  often  lead  to  pro- 
longed discussions  afterward.  Travel,  development  of  indus- 
tries, biological,  and  sociological  subjects  are  discussed.  The 
audience  generally  fills  the  hall,  and  many  are  told  "No  more 
room."  Special  favorites  are  asked  each  year  to  lecture,  and 
their  coming  is  greeted  with  thundering  applause.  The  Boys' 
Club  offers  its  hospitality  to  about  one  thousand  boys.  The  un- 
derlying idea  was  to  get  them  out  of  the  streets  and  alleys,  pool- 
rooms and  bowling  alleys,  and  get  them  to  a  place  where  they 


3ao  RACE-ASSIMILATION 

could  have  some  recreation  under  decent  surroundings  and  good 
influences.  Pool  tables  and  bowling  alleys,  manual  training,  gym- 
nasium work,  play  and  study  rooms  and  a  library  are  at  the  boys' 
disposal,  and  a  staff  of  men  and  women  wrork  hard  to  get  some 
influence  with  the  boys.  The  most  loved  forms  of  recreation  are 
parties  and  dances  for  the  grown-ups. 

The  use  of  public  schools  after  school  hours  for  social  pur- 
poses, municipal  theaters  and  auditoriums  for  plays  and  dances, 
better  library  facilities,  better  and  more  beautiful  housing  of  art 
galleries  and  other  collections,  increased  bathing  facilities,  cheap 
and  quick  means  of  transportation  to  bring  people  out  of  the 
congested  districts  into  the  country  have  been  established  or  are 
planned  in  all  sections  of  the  country.  The  progress  made  in  the 
playground  movement  in  the  last  nine  years  is  astonishing,  and  it 
may  be  well  to  close  this  short  survey  of  the  recreation  of  the 
foreigner  with  the  words  of  a  Chicago  student  of  the  recreation 
centers.  Mr  Eckhart  says:  "In  these  playgrounds  lies  the  real 
beginning  of  the  social  redemption  of  the  people  in  large  cities. 
The  greatest  need  of  American  life  today  is  some  common  meet- 
ing-ground for  the  people,  where  business  may  be  forgotten, 
friendships  formed  and  cooperation  established.  The  playground 
seems  to  have  great  possibilities  in  that  direction.  It  is  already 
the  social  center  for  the  children,  and  it  is  becoming  more  so, 
more  and  more  for  adults.  If  we  can  systematically  encourage 
this  tendency  and  organize  our  playgrounds  accordingly,  we  shall 
do  much  to  satisfy  a  great  need.  A  field  house,  in  itself,  is  a 
good  beginning  in  the  way  of  bringing  playgrounds  to  adults. 

"The  play  festival  is  another  feature  which  brings  in  the 
parents,  and  more  and  more  games  for  the  older  people  are  com- 
ing to  be  added  in  most  places.  In  many  sections  this  year  en- 
tertainments and  fairs  of  one  kind  or  another  have  been  held  on 
the  playgrounds,  and  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  for  mothers 
especially  to  bring  their  small  children  and  to  visit  with  each 
other.  A  great  deterrent  to  the  use  of  playgrounds  for  adults  is 
the  name,  which  suggests  that  it  is  for  children,  and  the  other  is 
the  lack  of  recreation  for  older  people  and  the  general  lack  of 
benches  for  the  parents.  Finally,  it  seems  to  me  the  general  pub- 
lic has  as  yet  scarcely  come  to  a  true  conception  of  the  financial 
need  of  playground  systems  and  the  size  of  the  checks  that 
should  be  made  out  to  sustain  them." 

Ann.    Am.    Acad.    35:357-67.      March,    1910. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  MATERIAL 
FOR  SECOND  EDITION 

THE   NECESSITY    FOR    CHANGES    IN 
AMERICANIZATION   METHODS 

CHARLES   C.   COOPER 

CHAIRMAN   OF   THE   DIVISION   ON   THE   LOCAL   COMMUNITY,   DIRECTOR 
OF  THE  KINGSLEY  ASSOCIATION,   PITTSBURGH 

Next  to  the  public  schools,  the  two  agencies  in  America  that 
are  doing  most  for  the  education  of  the  foreigner  are  the  moving 
picture  shows  and  the  public  press.  We  have  always  considered 
these  agencies  from  the  moral  standpoint.  It  would  seem  wise 
in  the  future  for  us  to  consider  them  from  the  standpoint  of 
Americanization.  What  picture  of  American  life  are  they  pre- 
senting to  the  immigrant?  Each  week  there  comes  to  my  desk 
the  multigraphed  copy  of  the  film  eliminations  by  the  state  censor. 
I  have  been  amazed  at  the  evident  attempt  to  drag  in,  forcibly, 
the  vicious  and  criminal  and  lewd.  When  one  thinks  of  the 
thousands  of  foreign  born  and  their  children  who  are  accepting 
such  scenes  and  plots  as  typical  American,  what  will  the  end  be? 

With  respect  to  the  public  press,  the  same  conditions  obtain. 
The  abnormal  is  written  up  in  scare  heads  on  the  front  page  and 
cried  out  by  newsboys  on  the  streets.  This  is  what  is  accepted 
by  many  an  immigrant  as  the  desirable  and  proper  thing  accord- 
ing to  American  standards. 

The  three  living  Americans  who  have  occupied  the  highest 
position  in  our  country  are  President  Wilson  and  Ex-Presidents 
Roosevelt  and  Taft.  They  have  different  natures,  they  will  neces- 
sarily advocate  different  policies,  and  yet  the  mass  of  American 
citizens  knows  that  all  three  are  earnest,  sincere  and  patriotic. 
If,  in  our  late  political  campaigns,  however,  the  foreign  born 
citizen  should  accept  what  was  daily  printed  and  said  about  these 
three  men  as  the  truth  or  as  typical  American,  what  would  be 


3 


322  AMERICANIZATION 

the  reaction  with  reference  to  his  Americanization  ?  What  would 
he  believe  of  America  and  American  ideals  ? 

My  main  thought  has  been  to  show  the  necessity  for  a  change 
in  our  process  of  Americanization,  and  to  leave  to  the  speakers 
that  follow  me  the  expansion  of  our  general  theme  of  American- 
ization. 

I  should  like  to  suggest  the  elimination  from  public  and  pri- 
vate use,  of  the  term  that  I  have  employed  so  frequently  in  this 
paper, — the  word  Americanization.  Americanization  savors  too 
much  of  denationalization.  Many  races  have  resisted  for  cen- 
turies, and  resisted  successfully,  every  effort  at  denationalization. 
The  minute  we  attempt  to  Prussianize  or  Russianize  a  group, 
that  group  reacts  with  equal  force  against  such  attempt.  The 
Poles,  the  citizens  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  the  Slavs  of  Austro-Hun- 
gary  are  examples  well  known  today.  Without  external  com- 
pulsion these  races  may  become  assimilated  with  other  races,  as 
in  the  United  States.  They  thus  permit  what  the  force  of 
centuries  could  not  compel. 

The  term,  Americanization,  seems  to  me  to  be  freighted  down 
with  the  mistakes  of  the  old  world.  Its  elimination  is  a  matter 
of  wisdom. 

I  should  like  to  suggest  the  word  "adoption" ;  the  American 
commonwealth  shall  adopt  the  immigrant  as  a  citizen,  and  on  the 
other  hand  the  foreigner  shall  adopt  this  nation  as  his  own  coun- 
try. Final  citizenship  papers  should  be  given  but  once  a  year, 
upon  the  American  Adoption  Day,  when  everything  that  can  in- 
tensify and  hallow  the  process  should  be  done.  This  American 
Adoption  Day  should  be  the  greatest  of  our  holidays.  Pageants, 
music,  oratory,  all  should  lend  significance  to  it.  The  old  folk- 
lore of  the  immigrant  should  be  carefully  studied  and  festivals 
and  pageants  be  arranged  so  that  this  same  folk-lore  shall  extend 
and  bear  its  fruit  in  the  New  World.  America  as  the  Promised 
Land  of  the  Jewish  immigrant  is  a  well  known  example. 

Across  the  fertile  land  of  Africa  they  say  the  trail  is  marked 
by  the  whitened  bones  of  the  slave.  Across  our  own  beloved  land 
we  know  there  is  another  trail,  the  way  of  the  immigrant,  marked 
with  lives  wrecked  by  the  work  of  the  white  slaver,  the  exploiter, 
the  loan  shark,  the  scheming  politician,  the  rooming-house  agent, 
the  employment  agency,  the  sweat  shop,  the  conniving  magistrate, 
and  other  beasts  of  prey. 


AMERICANIZATION  323 

This  immigrant  trail  must  be  made  safe,  perfectly  safe,  for  all 
time.  And  to  this  end  the  Immigration  Service  of  the  Govern- 
ment must  be  extended,  broadened,  and  socialized  so  that  it  can 
fully  safeguard  and  protect  the  immigrant.  Under  direct  federal 
supervision  must  be  placed  all  agencies  that  touch  the  immigrant. 
Justice  must  be  had  for  the  asking.  The  cheating  and  exploiting 
agents  and  agencies  must  be  rooted  out  or  kept  within  bounds, — 
so  that  all  may  know  that  here  in  the  United  States  the  immi- 
grant as  a  visitor  is  the  guest  of  the  nation;  and  as  a  citizen  he 
becomes  automatically  and  with  all  the  word  implies,  the  ward 
of  the  nation. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  as  an  American;  but  there  is  a  task 
before  America  with  respect  to  the  foreigner,  greater  than  the 
domestic  problem  of  his  assimilation.  The  international  neigh- 
borhoods,— local  communities,  which  are  scattered  from  one  end 
of  this  country  to  the  other,  are  not  only  of  interest  as  experi- 
mental stations  in  American  democracy,  but  are  of  world-wide 
significance. 

God  "hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men."  Brother- 
hood will  not  come  from  treaties,  systems  of  economics  or  mor- 
ality ;  neither  will  it  be  found  in  science,  in  art,  nor  in  the  pledges 
of  fraternities — it  is  an  attitude  of  mind.  When  in  these  interna- 
tional neighborhoods,  within  our  settlement  houses,  and  com- 
munity centers,  and  school  buildings,  the  folk  of  the  different 
races  work  and  play  together,  the  way  is  being  paved  for  the 
time  when  brotherhood  will  have  an  international  significance. 
Jewish  women  have  dressed  dolls  at  Kingsley  House  to  be  given 
away  at  our  Kingsley  Christmas.  Syrian  boys  of  different  faiths 
have  fought  battles  going  to  and  from  our  house  and  yet  played 
and  worked  together  therein. 

To  work  and  to  play  together.  Ah!  That  is  the  basis  of 
permanent  peace.  Possibly  it  is  a  dream — and  yet  I  am  thankful 
we  still  can  dream  in  this  age  of  war — that  America,  in  solving 
the  problem  of  democracy  in  her  international  neighborhoods  may 
solve  in  a  larger  way  the  problem  of  democracy  for  the  world, 
and  may  hasten  the  time  when  we  may  have,  in  peace  and  accord, 
"the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world." 

From  National  Conference  of  Social  Work.  Pamphlet  no.  115. 
Necessity  for  changes  in  Americanization  methods.  1918. 


324  AMERICANIZATION 


THE   IMMIGRANT   CONTRIBUTION 

I  am  the  immigrant. 

Since  the  dawn  of  creation  my  restless  feet  have  beaten  ntw 

paths  across  the  earth. 
My  uneasy  bark  has  tossed  on  all  seas. 
My  wanderlust  was  born  of  the  craving  for  more  liberty  and  a 

better  wage  for  the  sweat  of  my  face. 

I  looked  towards  the  United  States  with  eager  eyes  kindled  by 
the  fire  of  ambition  and  heart  quickened  with  new-born 
hope. 

I  approached  its  gates  with  great  expectation. 
I  entered  in  with  fine  hope. 
I   have   shouldered   my  burden    as   the    American   man-of-all- 

work. 
I  contribute  85  per  cent  of  all  the  labor  in  the  slaughtering  and 

meat  packing  industries. 
I  do  7/ioths  of  the  bituminous  coal  mining. 
I  do  7/8ths  of  all  the  work  in  the  woolen  mills, 
contribute  Q/ioth  of  all  the  labor  in  the  cotton  mills, 
make  ip/20ths  of  all  the  clothing, 
manufacture  more  than  half  the  shoes, 
build  4/5ths  of  all  the  furniture, 
make  half  of  the  collars,  cuffs  and  shirts, 
turn  out  4/5ths  of  all  the  leather, 
make  half  the  gloves, 
refine  nearly  i9/20ths  of  the  sugar, 
make  half  of  the  tobacco  and  cigars. 
And  yet  I  am  the  great  American  Problem. 

When  I  pour  out  my  blood  on  your  altar  of  labor,  and  lay  down 
my  life  as  a  sacrifice  to  your  God  of  Toil,  men  make  no 
more  comment  than  at  the  fall  of  a  sparrow. 
My  children  shall  be  your  children,  and  your  land  shall  be  my 
land  because  my  sweat  and  my  blood  will  cement  the 
foundations  of  the  America  of  Tomorrow. 

If  I  can  be  fused  into  the  body  politic,  the  melting  pot  will  have 
stood  the  supreme  test. 

Survey.     40:214.     May  23,   1918. 


AMERICANIZATION  325 


THE    AMERICANIZATION  MOVEMENT 
HOWARD  C.  HILL 

SCHOOL  OF   EDUCATION,    UNIVERSITY  OF   CHICAGO 

The  necessity  for  the  Americanization  of  our  foreign  popula- 
tion may  be  summarized  briefly  as  follows: 

1.  There  are  13,000,000  persons  of  foreign  birth  and  33,ooo,- 
ooo  of  foreign  origin  living  in  the  United  States. 

2.  Over   100  different   foreign  languages    and    dialects  arc 
spoken  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Over  1,300  foreign-language  newspapers  are  published  in 
the  United  States,  having  a  circulation  estimated  at  10,000,000. 

4.  Of  the  persons  in  the  United  States  5,000,000  are  unable 
to  speak  English. 

5.  Of  these  persons  2,000,000  are  illiterate. 

6.  Of  the  unnaturalized  persons  3,000,000  are  of  military  age. 

7.  In  1910,  34  per  cent  of  alien  males  of  draft  age  were  un- 
able to  speak  English;  that  is,  about  half  a  million  of  the  reg- 
istered alien  males  between  twenty-one  and  thirty-one  years  of 
age  were  unable  to  understand  military  orders  given  in  English. 

8.  War  industries  are  largely  dependent  on  alien  labor:     57 
per  cent  of  the  employees  in  the  iron  and  steel  industries  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  61  per  cent  of  the  miners  of  soft  coal,  72  per 
cent  of  workers  in  the  four    largest    clothing    manufacturing 
centers,  and  682/$  per  cent  of  construction  and  maintenance  work- 
ers on  the  railroads  are  foreign-born. 

9.  Only  about   1.3  per  cent  of  adult  non- English-speaking 
aliens  are  reached  by  the  schools. 

10.  Many  large  schools  in  American  cities  have  been  spend- 
ing more  for  teaching  German  to  American  children  than  for 
teaching  English  and  civics  to  aliens. 

i 

Agencies  of  Americanization 

I.     PRIVATE  AND  VOLUNTARY  AGENCIES 

The  agencies  promoting  the  Americanization  of  our  foreign 
population  may  be  treated  under  three  heads :  private  and  volun- 
tary, state  and  municipal,  and  federal. 


326  AMERICANIZATION 

From  February  to  June,  1918,  an  extensive  survey  of  the 
agencies  coming  into  contact  with  the  foreign-born  population  of 
the  United  States  was  made  by  Mr  Joseph  Mayper,  under  the 
joint  auspices  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  and  the 
National  Americanization  Committee.  This  survey  embraced 
foreign-born,  native-born,  educational,  industrial,  and  labor 
agencies.  It  included  within  its  scope  racial  societies,  churches, 
fraternal  orders,  patriotic  and  social  organizations,  chambers  of 
commerce,  public  and  private  schools,  railroads,  mines,  and  in- 
dustries of  all  kinds. 

In  order  to  secure  accurate  and  complete  information  on 
the  location  of  foreign-language  groups  and  the  agencies  dealing 
with  them,  letters  of  inquiry  "were  sent  to  2,376  Mayors  of 
Cities,  1,108  Chambers  of  Commerce,  2,353  trade  organizations, 
48  State  Councils  of  Defense  and  their  Woman's  Divisions,  275 
National  Racial,  Immigrant,  Patriotic,  and  Philanthropic  Socie- 
ties, 50  National  Religious  Organizations,  1,071  Foreign  News- 
papers, 5,274  Superintendents  of  Public  Schools,  269  Railroads, 
etc." 

As  a  result  of  this  inquiry  the  names  of  "approximately 
50,000  agencies  (foreign,  native,  industrial,  and  educational)" 
were  obtained.  To  each  of  these  a  registration  card  was  sent 
asking  for  information  on  the  principal  foreign  language  spoken, 
the  kinds  of  service  and  work  being  done  with  persons  of  foreign 
origin,  and  requesting  suggestions  or  plans  for  the  promotion  of 
Americanization.  About  15,000  of  the  registration  cards  were 
filled  out  and  returned.  Valuable  sources  of  information  not 
investigated,  or  from  which  inadequate  returns  were  obtained, 
are  labor  unions,  steamship-ticket  agencies,  hotel  employees, 
churches,  and  educational  institutions.  Replies  from  about  2,000 
schools,  libraries,  etc.,  "were  generally  unsatisfactory,"  owing  to 
errors  in  filling  out  the  registration  cards,  and  to  the  fact  that 
"a  number  of  the  more  important  cities  have  not  been  heard  from 
at  all." 

The  survey  is  analyzed  by  Mr.  Mayper  in  his  preliminary 
report  under  three  main  divisions :  foreign-born,  native-born,  and 
industrial  groups.  The  following  is  a  digest  of  this  analysis. 

I.  Foreign-born  group. — Each  of  the  33  important  racial 
groups  revealed  by  the  survey  as  represented  in  the  United 
States  has  at  least  two,  and  frequently  more,  national  organiza- 


AMERICANIZATION  327 

tions.  These  organizations  are  usually  of  three  general  types, 
although  they  include  numberless  factions. 

The  first  and  most  powerful  type  is  the  racial  organization 
which  exists  "for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  or  securing  the 
political  unity  and  independence  and  perpetuation  of  their  native 
land."  An  example  of  this  group  is  the  Polish  Central  Relief 
Committee  of  America.  Some  thirteen  national  Polish  organiza- 
tions of  various  kinds,  embracing  about  4,000,000  Poles,  are 
affiliated  with  it.  It  engages  in  various  kinds  of  propaganda  for 
the  promotion  of  Polish  liberty  and  is  active  in  recruiting  Polish 
regiments  for  service  in  Europe  and  in  collecting  money  for  war- 
relief  purposes.  While  some  of  the  organizations  affiliated  with 
it  may  have  a  real  interest  in  American  traditions,  customs,  and 
ideals,  the  controlling  Central  Committee  is  interested  only  in 
the  native  land.  It  makes  no  effort  to  Americanize  its  adherents 
or  to  promote  the  welfare  of  America. 

The  second  kind  of  racial  organization  "has  for  its  main 
purpose  the  solidarity  of  the  race  in  America."  The  Pan-Hellenic 
Union  is  typical  of  this  group.  It  includes  a  large  number  of 
the  Greeks  in  America.  It  manifests  little  or  no  interest  in  this 
country.  Such  an  organization  "fosters  the  language  and  tradi- 
tions and  customs  of  the  home  country  here  and  urges  its  for- 
eign-born to  stay  together."  It  is  therefore  antagonistic  to 
Americanization. 

The  third  type  of  social  organization  exists  "primarily  to 
work  for  America  and  only  secondarily  for  its  native  land." 
Unfortunately  such  organizations  are  few  in  number  and  weak 
in  influence.  The  Croatian  League  of  the  United  States,  which 
has  only  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  branches,  may  be  cited  as 
an  example.  The  pro-Austrian  element  among  the  Croatians  is 
so  hostile  to  this  organization  that,  when  some  two  hundred 
Croatians  joined  a  branch  which  was  being  introduced  at  the 
Cramp  shipyards,  they  "were  attacked  by  other  members  of  this 
race  at  work  in  the  same  plant  on  the  ground  that  they  were  dis- 
loyal to  their  native  country  and  were  working  against  their  own 
best  interest."  As  far  as  the  influence  of  organizations  of  this 
type  extends  it  is  a  factor  in  promoting  Americanization.  Such 
societies  should  be  encouraged. 

2.  Native-born  agencies.— The  native-born  agencies  reaching 
our  foreign  population  fall  roughly  into  religious,  civic,  fraternal, 
and  patriotic  groups. 


338  AMERICANIZATION 

Religious  bodies  such  as  churches  and  denominational  organi- 
zations frequently  form  the  only  important  means  of  approach 
to  alien  women.  Hundreds  of  churches,  especially  among  the 
Lithuanians  and  the  Roumanians,  exist  chiefly  for  the  foreign- 
language  groups  and  owing  to  the  tremendous  power  of  the 
priests  prove  most  effective  means  for  Americanization  projects 
if  their  co-operation  is  secured.  The  mission  schools  of  the 
English-speaking  churches  are  also  influential  among  the  persons 
they  reach. 

Social  and  civic  organizations  such  as  settlement  houses, 
women's  clubs,  and  home-visiting  agencies  are  active  among  for- 
eign-language groups.  These  agencies  have  the  welfare  of 
America  at  heart.  They  are  ready  and  willing  to  work,  but  in 
general  proceed  "in  a  disorganized  and  aimless  way." 

Fraternal  orders  like  the  Masons,  Elks,  and  others  have  ac- 
complished little,  though  in  some  instances  they  have  appointed 
members  or  committees  to  undertake  propaganda  work  among 
the  foreign-born.  In  most  cases  they  are  eager  to  co-operate  "if 
we  will  tell  them  what  to  do."  If  properly  guided,  these  societies 
will  prove  a  tower  of  strength  in  promoting  Americanism. 

Patriotic  organizations  like  the  National  Security  League  and 
the  American  Defense  Society  have  been  active  in  distributing 
literature  and  holding  public  gatherings  among  the  foreign-born. 
Their  work  is  of  unquestioned  value  in  promoting  patriotism, 
and,  "when  properly  harnessed,  should  awaken  an  intelligent 
community  attitude  toward  local  foreign-language  groups." 

3.  Industrial  organisations. — Large  numbers  of  foreign-lan- 
guage groups  are  employed  in  our  industries.  Many  of  these 
alien  employees  are  hostile  toward  naturalization.  The  Bethle- 
hem Steel  Company,  for  example,  states  that  of  its  10,000  for- 
eign-born employees  "5,600  stated  that  they  were  not  interested 
in  Americanization,  as  they  feared  the  result  of  becoming  citi- 
zens of  this  country  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they  desire  to  return 
to  their  native  land  after  the  war."  In  some  instances,  examples 
of  which  will  be  described  later,  industrial  plants  are  making 
systematic  efforts  at  Americanization  and  results,  so  far  as  avail- 
able, are  encouraging.  In  general,  however,  industrial  organiza- 
tions "do  not  know  what  to  do  or  how  to  do  it,  and  invariably 
ask  us  for  suggestions  and  material." 

In  addition  to  the  agencies  covered  in  the  Mayper  survey,  a 
word  should  be  said  concerning  the  Committee  for  Immigrants 
in  America  and-  the  National  Americanization  Committee.  Ac- 


AMERICANIZATION  3*9 

cording  to  a  memorandum  prepared  by  these  organizations  for 
the  Council  of  National  Defense,  "the  Committee  for  Immigrants 
in  America  is  a  New  York  State  corporation  organized  in  De- 
cember, 1909.  It  was  originally  known  as  the  New  York  State 
Committee  and  the  New  York-New  Jersey  Committee  of  the 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Immigrants."  In  1914,  when 
its  work  became  national  in  scope,  its  name  was  changed  to  the 
Committee  for  Immigrants  in  America. 

The  National  Americanization  Committee  was  formed  in  May, 
1915,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Committee  for  Immigrants  in 
America  "to  bring  American  citizens,  foreign-born  and  native- 
born  alike,  together  on  our  national  Independence  Day  to  cele- 
brate the  common  privileges  and  define  the  common  duties  of  all 
Americans,  wherever  born."  The  campaign  was  so  effective  that 
106  of  the  most  important  cities  in  America  held  patriotic  cele- 
brations and  special  citizenship  receptions  in  connection  with 
their  Fourth  of  July  exercises. 

After  the  campaign  so  many  requests  for  assistance  in  Amer- 
icanization work  and  methods  continued  to  come  to  the  Commit- 
tee that,  in  the  hope  of  correlating  the  efforts  of  the  numerous 
agencies  of  the  country  interested  in  the  problem,  the  Committee 
perfected  a  permanent  organization. 

The  Committee  is  a  clearing-house,  not  a  membership  organ- 
ization. It  deals  with  governmental  departments,  schools,  courts, 
chambers  of  commerce,  churches,  women's  clubs,  patriotic  or- 
ganizations, institutions,  and  groups  as  units  of  co-operation — not 
primarily  with  individuals.  It  plans  and  organizes  work  for  local 
organizations,  enabling  them  better  to  execute  their  local  work. 
It  standardizes  Americanization  work  and  methods  and  stim- 
ulates thought,  interest,  and  activity.  It  conducts  experiments 
which  later  are  incorporated  into  governmental,  educational,  and 
business  systems  of  the  country.  It  derives  its  support  from  con- 
tributions— not  from  dues  or  assessments.  Its  services  and  pub- 
lications are  free. 

During  the  first  six  months  of  its  existence  the  Committee, 
in  co-operation  with  the  agencies  just  mentioned,  conducted 
"night-school  publicity  campaigns  in  Detroit  and  Syracuse  under 
the  auspices  of  chambers  of  commerce,  and  in  Wilmington,  Dela- 
ware; state  training  courses  for  teachers,  as  in  New  York  state 
and  Michigan;  college  training  courses  for  social  service  in  im- 
migration, introduced  in  whole  or  in  part  in  Yale,  Columbia,  and 


330  AMERICANIZATION 

Chicago  universities,  Beloit  and  Tufts  colleges,  and  a  number  of 
other  colleges  and  universities;  preliminary  surveys  in  cities  to 
serve  as  the  basis  of  Americanization  work;  plans  and  details 
for  teaching  English  and  civics ;  speaker's  bureau  and  bulletin, 
and  Americanization  conferences,  notably  the  National  Confer- 
ence in  Philadelphia,  June,  1916 ;  prize  competitions,  among  which 
is  the  housing  contest  now  in  progress  for  the  best  plans  for 
houses  especially  designed  for  industrial  towns  of  rapid  growth; 
the  publication  of  a  quarterly  magazine,  the  Immigrants  in 
America  Review,  for  clearing  information  of  Americanization 
work  as  conducted  by  agencies  public  and  private  throughout  the 
country. 

Some  time  after  the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the 
war  the  Committee  turned  over  practically  its  entire  staff  and 
equipment  to  the  national  government  without  charge  to  help  in 
furthering  Americanization  projects. 

In  conclusion,  the  activities  of  private  and  voluntary  agencies 
may  be  summarized  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Mayper : 

The  foreign-born  groups  are  divided  among  themselves  and 
are  not  getting  the  American  point  of  view. 

The  foreign-born  groups  are  divided  among  themselves  and  are  not 
getting  the  American  point  of  view. 

The  native-born  agencies  are  not  reaching  them  and  have  the  utmost 
diversity  of  standards,  methods,  and  material.  Their  information  is 
distributed  without  knowledge  of  the  needs  and  what  will  fit  conditions 
best. 

Industrial  plants  are  here  and  there  giving  attention  specifically  to  the 
foreign-language  workmen,  and,  for  the  most  part,  they  are  ready  and 
willing  to  be  used,  but  do  not  know  how  to  do  the  work  themselves. 

The  educational  agencies,  especially  the  public  schools,  are  alive  to  the 
situation,  but  need  the  propaganda  itself  to  vitalize  their  work. 

II.       STATE    AND    MUNICIPAL    AGENCIES 

Prior  to  1914  the  Americanization  work  of  states  and  munici- 
palities was  meager.  The  only  state  in  the  Union  which  had 
made  financial  provision  for  the  education  of  immigrants  was 
New  Jersey.  Massachusetts  was  the  only  state  which  had  a  law 
requiring  illiterates  up  to  twenty-one  years  of  age  to  attend 
school.  In  certain  instances  municipalities  had  endeavored  to 
solve  the  problem  by  establishing  evening  classes  of  various 
kinds.  Such  classes,  generally  speaking,  were  attended  by  few 
pupils  and  as  a  rule  were  poorly  adapted  to  meet  the  needs  of 
immigrants. 

Since  1914  some  progress  has  been  made.     By  1916  Massa- 


AMERICANIZATION  33i 

chusetts  and  Connecticut  had  enacted  laws  requiring  the  estab- 
lishment of  evening  schools  for  the  education  of  illiterate  minors 
in  communities  where  there  are  a  certain  number  of  such  minors 
and  under  certain  other  conditions.  Where  such  evening  schools 
are  established  persons  to  whom  the  law  applies  are  compelled 
to  attend. 

Even  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  yet  existing, 
however,  results  leave  much  to  be  desired.  For  example  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, the  leading  state  in  the  Union  in  eliminating  illiteracy, 
there  were,  according  to  data  available  March  I,  1916,  "23  com- 
munities in  the  state,  each  having  over  5,000  inhabitants  and  over 
1,000  foreign  whites  where  no  evening  schools  were  found,  in 
one  of  which,  according  to  the  census  returns  for  1910,  the  for- 
eign-born whites  comprised  47  per  cent  of  the  population." 

Nine  other  states  containing  a  large  number  of  foreign-born 
persons  had  legal  provisions  which,  under  certain  circumstances, 
permitted  the  establishment  of  evening  schools  for  the  education 
of  persons  beyond  the  compulsory  school  age.  Such  legislation 
has  not  proved  effective.  In  the  nine  states  cited,  embracing  1,050 
cities  with  over  2,500  inhabitants  each,  474  of  which  contained 
over  1,000  foreign-born  whites,  there  was  a  total  of  but  207  eve- 
ning schools.  In  other  words,  less  than  one-half  the  cities  con- 
taining over  1,000  foreign-born  whites  had  provided  evening 
schools  for  immigrant  education. 

Let  us  examine  one  of  the  so-called  "immigration  states" 
more  in  detail. 

New  York  in  1910  had  a  total  foreign  population  of  2,748,011, 
an  increase  of  44.4  per  cent  over  that  of  1900.  Of  this  number, 
597,012  ten  years  of  age  and  over,  were  unable  to  speak  English ; 
362,065  were  illiterate.  Alien  men  between  twenty-one  and  thir- 
ty-one years  of  age  who  registered  for  the  draft  numbered 
264,709.  Out  of  the  2,634,578  ten  years  of  age  and  over  but  131,- 
541  were  attending  school. 

In  1910  New  York  City  contained  421,951  foreign-born  unable 
to  speak  English;  in  1914  only  36,923  were  enrolled  in  evening 
schools — less  than  one  out  of  every  ten.  Buffalo  contained  118,- 
444  foreign-born,  30,826  of  whom  were  unable  to  speak  English, 
and  but  2,622  attended  evening  schools,  that  is,  about  one  out  of 
every  12.  "In  1914  there  were  no  public  evening  schools  what- 
soever in  107  urban  communities  with  more  than  2,500  inhabi- 


332  AMERICANIZATION 

tants ;  71  of  these  communities  had  more  than  1,000  foreign-born, 
and  three  of  them  had  more  than  4,000  foreign-born."  Such  are 
the  conditions  in  a  state  in  which  the  law  permits  the  board  of 
each  school  district  to  maintain  free  night  schools. 

Some  of  the  chief  causes  for  the  inefficiency  of  states  and 
municipalities  in  Americanizing  the  alien  are  not  hard  to  discover. 
They  are  constitutional,  financial,  and  educational  in  nature.  Only 
one  state,  California,  mentions  evening  schools  in  its  constitution. 
In  twenty  states  the  constitutions  directly  limit  the  distribution 
of  the  state  school  funds  to  communities  on  the  basis  of  the 
number  of  resident  children  of  school  age  (usually  from  five  or 
six  to  twenty  or  twenty-one  years).  In  some  of  the  other  states 
a  like  result  takes  place  by  implication.  In  all  such  cases  the 
financial  burden  for  educating  the  alien  must  rest  on  the  local 
community.  Such  was  the  situation  in  1915  in  thirty-seven  states 
of  the  Union.  By  that  year  but  eleven  states  had  made  appro- 
priations for  the  support  of  evening  schools,  and  these  appropria- 
tions in  many  instances  were  utterly  inadequate  to  meet  the  finan- 
cial needs  of  the  schools.  In  a  few  cases  the  available  funds 
were  supplemented  by  fees  collected  from  students,  but  in  such 
instances,  especially  where  the  fee  was  as  high  as  $2.00,  the  en- 
rolment was  greatly  decreased.  As  a  result  the  chief  purpose  of 
the  schools  was  defeated. 

In  some  cases  the  State  Councils  of  Defense  have  been  active 
in  promoting  Americanization  work.  Leaders  in  such  work  and 
examples  of  their  activities  follow. 

The  State  Council  Americanization  Committee  of  Connecticut 
was  recently  changed  to  a  Bureau  of  Americanization.  Indica- 
tions are  that  it  will  be  made  a  legal  state  bureau  by  the  next 
legislature.  At  present  the  Bureau  is  financed  by  the  State  Board 
of  Control,  which  makes  such  payments  as  are  found  to  be  neces- 
sary by  the  State  Council.  Prior  to  this  reorganization  the  State 
Americanization  Committee  had  distributed  throughout  Connec- 
ticut patriotic  literature  in  eight  different  foreign  languages. 
Successful  public  meetings  of  alien  groups  were  also  held  under 
the  auspices  of  the  committee. 

The  Woman's  Section  of  the  State  Council  of  Defense  has 
been  especially  active  in  Illinois.  It  has  organized  classes  to 
meet  at  the  noon  hour  among  foreign  women  employed  in  fac- 
tories. Other  classes  for  small  groups  of  foreign  women  have 


AMERICANIZATION  333 

been  provided  in  their  homes  or  at  a  school.  These  women  have 
been  reached  through  lessons  in  cooking,  sewing,  and  other 
household  arts,  although  the  real  object  of  all  the  classes  has 
been  the  teaching  of  English.  It  has  also  sent  speakers  to  ex- 
plain America's  attitude  on  the  war  to  various  groups  of  foreign- 
born  working-girls. 

The  organization  of  the  Americanization  work  in  Massachu- 
setts is  especially  commendable.  Under  the  leadership  of  a  state 
director  a  committee  of  over  one  hundred  members  composed  of 
representatives  of  all  the  racial  groups  in  the  state,  as  well  as  the 
labor,  capital,  and  social-service  agencies  interested  in  Americani- 
zation, have  co-operated  in  furthering  Americanization  projects. 
The  committee  carries  on  its  work  through  various  subcommittees 
each  of  which  has  charge  of  one  specific  line  of  activity.  One 
important  work  of  the  committee  was  the  effective  correlation  of 
the  activities  of  such  organizations  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

In  New  Hampshire  a  notable  accomplishment  of  the  State 
Americanization  Committee  has  been  the  enlistment  of  the  enthu- 
siastic co-operation  and  support  of  labor  unions  of  the  state  in 
the  work  of  Americanization.  Fairly  complete  programs  for  the 
establishment  of  evening  schools  and  the  teaching  of  the  elemen- 
tary subjects  in  English  have  also  been  prepared. 

The  State  Council  Director  of  Americanization  of  New  York 
is  also  the  head  of  a  Division  of  Immigrant  Education  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education.  His  principal  work  up  to  this  time 
has  been  the  formulation  of  courses  of  training  and  education  to 
prepare  teachers  of  the  foreign-born.  This  undertaking  was  au- 
thorized by  the  last  legislature. 

Among  the  municipalities  which  have  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  work  of  Americanization,  Cleveland  easily  ranks  in  the  first 
group.  The  need  for  such  an  undertaking  was  great.  In  1914 
Cleveland  had  over  200,000  foreign-born  residents  ten  years  of 
age  and  over.  Of  these  about  80,000— one-tenth  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  city— were  unable  to  speak  English;  only  11,383 
of  them  were  enrolled  in  the  schools.  But  by  its  efficiency  in 
organizing  the  city's  Americanization  work,  its  attention  to  alien 
women,  its  relatively  generous  financial  appropriations  for  night 
schools,  and  its  success  in  winning  the  co-operation  of  many  in- 
dustrial plants,  Cleveland  has  made  valuable  contributions  toward 
solving  the  problem. 


334  AMERICANIZATION 

Shortly  after  the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the  war 
there  was  organized  the  Mayor's  Advisory  War  Committee.  As 
a  special  division  of  the  Mayor's  Committee  there  was  formed 
.  the  Cleveland  Americanization  Committee.  About  the  same  time 
the  city  Board  of  Education  established  a  Department  of  Educa- 
tional Extension  and  Community  Centers  and  appropriated 
$120,000  for  its  work.  These  agencies  have  co-operated  in  a 
campaign  to  make  Cleveland  a  "one-language  city." 

As  a  result  of  their  efforts  classes  for  immigrants  were  or- 
ganized the  past  year  in  "public-school  buildings,  factories, 
parochial  schools,  churches,  public  libraries,  hospitals,  and  in  fact 
every  place  within  the  city"  where  groups  of  non-English-speak- 
ing people  could  be  reached.  The  Mayor's  Committee  appropri- 
ated a  sum  sufficient  to  defray  all  expenses  of  these  special 
classes.  Instruction  was  free. 

After  having  provided  for  educational  centers  in  all  parts  of 
the  city  the  widest  publicity  was  given  to  the  plan.  Posters,  dis- 
play cards,  hand  bills  printed  in  six  languages  were  distributed 
in  the  foreign-born  communities.  Employers  offered  inducements 
to,  and  brought  pressure  upon,  their  employees  to  secure  their 
attendance  at  the  classes.  In  addition  to  the  usual  night  schools 
classes  were  formed  in  twenty-two  different  industrial  plants 
and  in  many  other  places.  Fourteen  of  the  companies  "paid  for 
either  half  or  all  of  the  time  taken  by  the  classes."  To  meet  the 
diffidence  of  adult  aliens  who  did  not  like  to  attend  the  public 
schools  classes  were  organized  in  thirteen  foreign-language 
churches. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  there  are  in  Cleveland  about 
70,000  aliens  ten  years  of  age  and  over  who  are  not  enrolled  in 
the  public  schools,  and  that  Cleveland  is  one  of  the  leaders  in 
Americanization  work,  the  meagerness  of  the  results  in  com- 
parison with  the  great  need  is  startling.  The  fact  is  that  the 
states  and  municipalities,  through  no  particular  fault  of  their 
own,  have  failed  to  Americanize  the  adult  foreign-born  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States. 


III.      FEDERAL   AGENCIES 

Federal  activity  in  Americanizing  the  foreign-born  is  of  re- 
cent origin  and  limited  extent.     By  established  precedents  and 


AMERICANIZATION  335 

legislative  and  constitutional  provisions,  control  over  practically 
all  phases  of  education  has  until  the  present  time  remained  in  the 
hands  of  state  and  local  authorities.  Federal  interest  in  immi- 
grant education  has  therefore  confined  itself  largely  to  various 
investigations  of  the  existing  facilities  for  educating  the  foreign- 
born  ;  to  arousing  the  public  mind,  by  the  use  of  bulletins,  news 
items,  and  other  publications,  to  the  need  of  such  facilities;  and 
to  issuing  from  time  to  time  material  which  might  be  useful  in 
carrying  on  such  work.  Chief  among  the  federal  agencies  which 
have  been  active  in  this  work  are  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education,  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  the  Committee  on 
Public  Information,  and  the  Bureau  of  Naturalization. 

Unfortunately,  a  conflict  of  authority,  duplication  of  effort, 
and  lack  of  co-ordination  seem  to  exist  among  these  federal 
agencies.  A  summary  of  a  few  of  the  events  of  the  last  year 
will  support  the  foregoing  statement  and  at  the  same  time  will 
reveal  the  chief  federal  activities. 

Final  Analysis  and  Recommendations 

Findings. — In  conclusion,  this  survey  has  revealed  the  follow- 
ing conditions  in  immigrant  education: 

1.  Very  few  of  our  foreign  population  are  receiving  any  sys- 
tematic training  in  English  and  citizenship. 

2.  There  are  a  host  of  agencies  eager  to 'co-operate  in  Amer- 
icanization if  they  but  knew  what  and  how  to  do ;  many  of  them, 
owing  to  ignorance,  are  engaged  in  undertakings  of  little  value. 

3.  Conflicts,  antagonisms,  cross-purposes,  duplication  of  ef- 
fort, and  inefficiency  characterize  the  activities  of  many  of  the 
agencies  now  in  the  field. 

4.  Existing  courses  of  instruction  in  citizenship  are  inade- 
quate in  content  and  method  to  produce  the  best  results  in  Amer- 
icanization;   some  of  them,  however,  contain  excellent  features. 

Recommendations. — In  view  of  present  conditions  the  follow- 
ing action  should  be  taken : 

1.  There  should  be  a  centralizing  federal  agency  with  power 
to  direct  and  co-ordinate  the  work  of  the  different  agencies  en- 
gaged in  Americanization. 

2.  A  standard  course  of  instruction  in  citizenship,  embracing 


336  AMERICANIZATION 

the  fundamental  political,  economic,  and  social  phases  of  Amer- 
ican life,  should  be  perfected  by  or  through  this  centralizing 
agency.  This  course  should  be  planned  so  as  to  permit  such 
variations  as  are  necessary  to  fit  it  to  the  needs  of  different  com- 
munities. A  collection  of  all  the  courses  now  used  in  immigrant 
instruction  would  be  helpful  to  anyone  attempting  to  organize 
such  a  course. 

3.  Special  instruction  should  be  provided  in  normal  schools, 
colleges,  and  universities  to  fit  teachers  for  the  work  of  Amer- 
icanization. 

4.  Adequate   financial   appropriations    for    a   thoroughgo:ng 
campaign  in  Americanization  should  be  made  by  Congress  and  by 
the  legislatures  of  the  states. 

From  article  in  The  American  Journal  of  Sociology.  24:609-42.  May, 
1919. 

RACIAL   RELATIONS    IN    AMERICA 
FRANCES   RUMSEY 

The  Department  of  the  Interior  is  selecting  for  each  race  a 
racial  representative,  to  act  in  concert  with  it  in  all  matters  which 
concern  the  racial,  educational,  and  industrial  activities  of  his 
own  people  resident  in  America.  This  representative  becomes 
the  logical  means  of  communication  between  this  group  and  au- 
thoritative American  action.  He  is  in  constant  touch  with  his 
own  press,  with  the  educational  needs  of  his  people,  with  theit 
organizations,  whether  social,  religious,  or  fraternal,  with  their 
industrial  conditions,  and  with  their  various  conferences  and  con- 
ventions throughout  the  country.  He  traces  the  origin  ana 
strength  of  their  factional  differences  and  difficulties;  he  urges 
the  learning  of  English  as  a  means  of  development  and  self -pro- 
tection, and  investigates  the  conditions  and  facilities  regarding 
this ;  he  creates  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  naturalization ;  he 
sees  that  his  people  have  adequate  representation  on  industrial 
committees ;  he  keeps  in  constant  contact  with  the  growth  of 
their  constructive  needs.  This  representative  has,  as  advisory  to 
him,  a  conference  group  of  twelve  members  of  his  own  race. 
These  men  are  chosen  from  as  wide  a  field  as  possible;  they 
include  representation  of  educational,  literary,  journalistic,  indus- 
trial, commercial,  and  labor  interests,  and  keep  the  representative 


AMERICANIZATION  337 

constantly  informed  of  the  growth  and  changes  of  opinion  in 
their  own  groups.  This  means  a  clear  and  continuous  flow  01 
information  not  from  various  scattered  sources,  but  from  these 
sources  to  one  central  and  uniting  point. 

The  first  task  of  each  representative,  on  his  assumption  of 
office  and  after  establishing  relations  with  his  foreign  language 
press  and  his  own  racial  organizations,  is  to  prepare  for  the 
Government  a  statement  of  the  present  status  of  his  race  in 
their  country  of  origin,  both  historically  traced  and  in  the  forms 
of  its  present  existence.  This  statement  is  made  from  the  points 
of  view  of,  first,  culture,  by  a  study  of  their  typical  traditions, 
beliefs,  arts,  and  literature;  second,  economics,  by  analysis  and 
computation  of  the  bases  of  their  economic  production ;  third, 
science,  by  investigation  of  their  contribution  to  science;  fourth, 
political  science,  by  comparison  between  their  social  relations,  the 
forms  of  their  institutions  and  their  political  ideals.  There  is 
thus  recorded  not  only  the  past  achievements  of  this  particular 
race  in  these  directions,  but  there  is  also  predicated  and  made 
practical  the  probable  lines  along  which  this  people  can  most 
freely  develop  and  the  ways  in  which  their  genius  is  most  likely 
to  express  itself  successfully.  This  statement  is  followed  by  a 
technical  one,  which  defines  the  present  status  of  those  of  the 
race  resident  in  America,  where  and  how  they  are  settled,  where 
and  how  employed,  and  how  far  their  integration  into  American 
life  has  proceeded. 

Half  the  circle  is  thus  completed.  An  intelligent  and  author- 
itative source  of  information  is  established,  one  which  will  by 
the  very  terms  of  its  existence  be  constantly  enlarged  and  en- 
riched. It  is  possible  to  trace  not  only  the  needs  of  the  foreign 
race,  but  the  historical  and  traditional  evidence  as  to  why  those 
needs  exist ;  to  understand  the  instinct  of  segregation  here  and 
the  instinct  of  disassociation  there ;  and  to  lay  the  way  to  repair 
misunderstandings  and  antagonisms,  as  well  as  some  of  those 
ignorances  which  have  forced  men  and  women  into  employment 
for  which  they  were  temperamentally  unfitted  and  in  which,  for 
this  reason,  they  often  signally  failed.  The  third  statement  of 
each  representative  goes  a  step  further;  it  finally  rounds  both 
the  investigation  and  the  operating  principle.  This  is  a  report 
on  those  ways  and  means  which  will  best  interpret  America  to 


338  AMERICANIZATION 

his  own  race ;  which  will  best  give  them  American  standards  and 
best  coordinate  their  own  development  with  that  of  their  adopted 
country.  In  dealing  with  all  questions  between  the  two  peoples 
there  are  thus  established  the  methods  of  analysis  and  compari- 
son before  any  attempt  is  made  at  selection  and  application. 
Points  of  contact  are  traced  which  will  contribute  to  reciprocal 
integration  and  fusion.  Sympathetic  traditions  and  tendencies 
of  thought  are  defined  in  American  culture;  there  is  a  statement 
of  such  processes  in  the  foreign  economic  production  as  can  be 
used  and  developed  in  American  production;  there  is  mutual 
study  of  such  special  characteristics  of  both  peoples  as  determine 
the  forms  of  their  scientific  achievement,  and  an  application, 
wherever  possible,  of  this  knowledge  to  American  science;  and 
there  is  tested  the  identity  between  the  bases  of  social  relations 
in  both  nations,  and  between  the  function  and  operition  of  their 
political  institutions. 

The  reciprocity  which  is  thus  created  is  complete  not  only 
between  a  single  race  and  America,  but  between  the  various  for- 
eign races  in  America  themselves.  Some  of  the  drama  of  the 
constant  American  recreation  plays  through  this  amalgamation. 
For  the  first  time  these  races  see  one  another  under  larger  terms 
than  the  terms  of  factional  difference.  They  have  to  measure, 
because  of  new  frictions  and  new  stimulations,  the  terms  of  their 
individual  responsibility.  Those  things  which  the  foreign-born 
looked  upon  in  the  older  world  as  Utopian  principles  here  become 
the  society's  rightful  contribution  to  every  one:  what  he  re- 
ceived as  charity  has  here  become  for  each  man  a  practical  right ; 
what  he  formerly  claimed  as  benevolence  he  can  now  insist  on 
as  a  basic  justice.  From  the  American  side  the  gain  is  limitless. 
It  is  not  only  the  gain  for  industrial  and  commercial  life,  of  the 
inventive  genius,  the  high  operative  practicality,  the  thrift  and 
the  steady  capability  of  the  foreign-born.  There  is  a  growth 
even  more  fundamental.  In  culture  there  is  apprehension  of  the 
texture  of  another  national  mind;  in  economics  there  is  the  dis- 
covery of  differences  and  identities  of  values;  in  science  there 
is  the  establishment  of  like  terms  of  definition;  and  in  political 
science  there  is  created  a  like  sense  of  the  coherent  development 
of  peoples.  This  means  nothing  less  than  the  education  and 
application  of  America's  sense  of  composition. 

Racial   Relations   in   America.     Century   97:781-6.     April,    1919. 


AMERICANIZATION  339 

INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONSHIP 
FRANCES   A.   KELLOR 

America  has  no  policy  as  to  whether  it  will  attempt  to  retain 
its  immigrants  and  if  so  what  the  methods  will  be  or  whether 
it  will  bid  them  Godspeed,  adding  as  much  as  possible  to  their 
equipment  to  help  them  in  the  new  task.  Every  immigrant  who 
goes  back  could  have  been  made  a  missionary  of  the  American 
spirit,  an  advocate  of  American  business,  a  salesman  of  Amer- 
ican goods,  as  well  as  a  champion  of  democracy.  Instead,  the 
indifference  and  neglect  with  which  they  have  been  treated  has 
given  many  no  real  love  for  the  American  brand  of  Democracy. 
Today,  allies  though  they  are,  they  are  being  exploited  by  steam- 
ship ticket  agents  who  are  selling  them  tickets  on  vessels  whose 
sailings  are  unknown,  and  no  provision  is  being  made  for  their 
care  at  the  seaports,  where  they  may  wait  days  if  not  weeks. 
They  will  arrive  on  the  coast  with  their  savings,  with  their  faces 
turned  eastward  with  the  hope  of  seeing  those  from  whom  they 
have  not  heard  during  the  war,  and  America  will  permit  them 
to  be  exploited  as  they  leave  her  just  as  she  did  when  they  first 
came  to  her.  Every  such  tale  told  on  the  other  side  dims  the 
glory  of  the  Americans  who  fought  in  France. 

These  men  and  women  will  go  back  because  of  loyalty  to 
the  suffering  home  country,  to  see  what  has  happened,  to  settle 
up  family  matters,  to  help  the  home  country  and  to  work  out 
democratic  ideals  of  government  in  a  country  free  at  last.  They 
will  be  men  of  position  and  leadership  in  their  home  land.  It  is 
of  vital  and  of  great  significance  what  America  gives  them  to 
take  back  with  them;  and  what  their  last  impressions  are. 
These  depend  primarily  upon  what  their  experience  and  life  and 
treatment  in  this  country  have  been. 

This  nation  has  no  single  policy  which  reaches  all  of  its^im- 
migrants  and  which  surely  equips  them  to  interpret  America  to 
their  native  homes ;  it  has  no  official  programme  of  organization 
for  safeguarding  them  while  here  or  of  insuring  a  safe  or 
sympathetic  departure.  It  has  none  of  the  courtesy  of  a  host; 
it  has  not  the  powers  of  a  despot.  If  America  were  to  decide 
tomorrow  that  she  would  make  efforts  to  keep  her  immigrants 


340  AMERICANIZATION 

and  interest  them  in  America,  along  what  lines  would  she  pro- 
ceed? Americanization  is  the  readiest  answer,  summed  up  in 
most  people's  minds  by  the  teaching  of  English  and  the  acquire- 
ment of  citizenship  papers.  Valuable  as  these  are  as  channels, 
they  will  not  be  enough  to  hold  the  immigrant  nor  to  attract  new 
ones.  With  the  disbanding  of  war  agencies,  and  the  taking  off 
of  war  pressure,  the  country  has  still  to  find  a  unifying  principle 
of  race  amalgamation  and  to  find  what  it  is  that  creates  a  volun- 
tary allegiance  to  a  new  country.  When  the  basic  principles  of 
Americanization  are  reached,  they  will  not  be  the  various  cam- 
paigns for  this  or  that  thing  that  seems  good  for  the  moment. 
They  will  be  identity  of  interest  in  the  economic  and  social  and 
political  fields  and  we  shall  deal  with  questions  like  these : — 

Can  race  superiority  and  prejudices  be  eliminated  and  all 
races  be  given  recognition  and  an  equal  opportunity  in  America? 

How  can  immigrants  be  given  a  land  interest  and  a  home 
stake  to  compete  with  the  call  of  the  soil  of  their  native  land  ? 

How  can  the  worker  be  given  recognition  and  his  talents  be 
utilized  and  the  discriminations  in  working  and  living  conditions 
and  handicaps  be  eliminated? 

How  can  the  distance  between  the  guarantees  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  its  practical  application  in  the  daily  lives  of  men 
be  shortened,  and  political  ideals  be  fully  realized? 

Shall  the  immigrant  who  tries  to  buy  a  home  continue  to  find 
himself  the  victim  of  a  colonization  scheme  to  sell  sand  flats  or 
in  the  meshes  of  the  installment  plan?  But  one  State  in  Amer- 
ica now  safeguards  his  savings  in  private  banks. 

Industrial  demobilization  as  well  as  military  demobilization 
present  interesting  immigration  questions :  Does  America  intend 
that  the  immigrant  shall  return  to  his  colony  and  section  and 
ghetto?  Is  the  bunk-house  on  construction  work  and  the  over- 
turned box  car  his  future  home?  Does  he  continue  a  dago  and 
a  wopf  Is  he  to  be  discriminated  against  in  future  employment? 
Will  the  foreign-born  soldier  return  to  the  same  footing  in  his 
family  and  in  his  town  when  he  lays  aside  his  uniform? 

To  these  and  a  hundred  other  demobilization  questions  which 
affect  particularly  the  foreign-born  in  America,  there  is  no  ready 
answer.  These,  too,  are  questions  to  which  the  world  will  await 
an  answer.  America  must  realize  that  in  becoming  a  world 
Power  and  in  deciding  situations  abroad,  she  opens  the  door  to 


AMERICANIZATION  341 

far  greater  interest,  accountability  and  influence  upon  her  affairs 
at  home,  especially  when  these  involve  many  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  subjects  of  foreign  countries.  How  they  shall  be 
treated  may  no  longer  be  her  own  affair.  It  concerns  Europe 
vitally  and  may  one  say  as  consistently  as  America  is  concerned 
in  how  Europe  treats  its  various  nationalities. 

Have  we  emerged  from  this  war  with  a  real  international 
sense  which  we  are  willing  to  put  to  the  following  test:  Shall 
immigration  be  considered  only  as  a  labor  matter  as  in  the  past 
or  does  America  recognize  her  dependence  upon  other  races  for 
elements  of  fusion  and  contributions  of  body,  mind  and  spirit, 
essential  to  the  future  development  of  a  great  people  and  a  great 
country  ? 

America  will  not  attract  immigrants  upon  the  old  terms  of 
ideals,  jobs  and  wages.  America  will  have  the  competition  of 
countries  eager  for  manpower  and  having  as  much  to  offer. 
Making  democracy  safe  for  the  world  relieves  America  of  its 
monopoly  and  men  will  be  able  to  realize  in  their  own  lands  that 
which  they  once  crossed  the  seas  to  find  in  America.  Foreign 
countries  by  anti-emigration  laws  and  other  measures  will  en- 
deavor to  keep  their  manpower,  they  will  direct  it  when  they  can 
to  their  colonies.  Canada  and  South  America  have  more  to  offer 
in  adventure  and  lands  and  opportunities  than  America.  This 
country  also  faces  competition  with  the  most  frugalized  and  dis- 
ciplined people  of  Europe  and  must  teach  thrift  and  lower  cost 
production — a  course  not  popular  with  a  people  used  to  lavish 
expenditure.  Conditions  today  raise  new  questions  as  to  how 
immigration  may  be  best  selected  and  how  much  of  the  revolu- 
tionary Bolsheviki  element  can  be  absorbed  here.  It  is  becoming 
clear  that  the  old  haphazard  way  of  interesting  immigrants  to 
come  here  by  leaving  it  to  the  enterprise  of  steamship  companies, 
and  of  labor  agencies,  and  to  individuals  to  send  for  their  coun- 
trymen will  not  suffice,  if  America  believes  that  her  future  pros- 
perity and  power  depend  on  not  only  immigration  but  immigra- 
tion selected  for  her  needs  and  satisfying  her  standards. 

I  am  far  from  saying  there  has  been  no  improvement  in 
these  conditions.  Everywhere  there  is  evidence  of  changing  rela- 
tionships. I  am  saying,  however,  that  nowhere  can  men  who 
are  struggling  with  these  questions  find  a  guiding  principle 
clearly  enunciated  in  law  and  backed  by  authority.  In  Washing- 


342  AMERICANIZATION 

ton,  Government  bureaus  nullify  the  work  of  each  other;  States 
contradict  each  other  by  statute,  and  organizations  multiply,  all 
bent  upon  some  specific  phase  of  work.  Education  lags  while 
imposition  grows;  standards  yield  to  expedients;  and  incentives 
are  killed  by  repression.  America's  voice  is  not  raised  clearly 
against  it;  and  few  laws  are  enacted  powerfully  to  counteract 
it.  Men  feeling  these  inequalities  seek  the  great  adventure  in 
other  lands. 

America  enters  the  international  councils  today  with  this 
equipment  for  dealing  with  its  races  in  America : 

An  immigration  law  providing  for  the  restriction  or  admis- 
sion of  aliens,  based  upon  self-defense,  governed  by  an  economic 
point  of  view,  and  containing  none  of  the  broader  principles  of 
selection  which  the  war  has  revealed.  Will  it  be  amended  as  be- 
comes a  world  Power  and  possible  member  of  a  League  of  Na- 
tions, or  will  it  remain  the  provincial  expression  of  a  people 
afraid  of  labor  competition? 

A  naturalization  law,  whose  citizenship  does  not  protect  the 
naturalized  citizen  in  his  native  land ;  which  imposes  hardships  in 
the  name  of  standards,  based  on  local  geographical  lines;  and 
which  is  an  antiquated  instrument  in  its  expression  of  the  dig- 
nity and  requirements  of  citizenship,  as  well  as  in  its  cumbersome 
and  unstandardized  methods  of  operation.  Many  injustices,  like 
withholding  the  opportunity  to  earn  a  living,  are  committed  in 
its  name,  and  many  a  privilege  is  entrenched  along  with  its 
democracy.  Shall  it  be  amended  to  give  international  citizenship 
which  shall  be  good  the  world  over  and  having  but  one  meaning 
and  standard  at  home? 

State  laws  dealing  with  the  most  intricate  questions  of  na- 
tionality exhibit  contradictions  and  inequalities.  In  one  State 
men  were  forbidden  to  pray  in  a  foreign  language;  in  another 
aliens  may  not  be  employed  as  barbers ;  in  another  aliens  may 
not  own  a  dog;  in  nine  States  men  with  first  papers  can  vote. 
There  are  indications  that  the  legislatures  of  1919  will  attempt 
to  settle  questions  of  loyalty  and  of  freedom  in  their  own  way. 
Shall  there  be  a  uniform  policy  for  States  in  accord  with  na- 
tional and  international  agreements,  with  Federal  aid  to  the 
States  having  great  problems  of  education  and  assimilation,  or 
shall  we  continue  to  confuse  the  world  and  do  injustice  to  the 
alien  as  he  passes  from  State  to  State? 


AMERICANIZATION  343 

We  are  not  agreed  upon  whether  this  shall  be  a  compulsory 
English  language  nation ;  and  if  so  under  what  conditions  other 
languages  may  be  spoken  and  under  what  conditions  the  foreign 
press  shall  continue,  and  within  what  terms  nationalistic  societies 
may  flourish.  Shall  we  have  a  compulsory  English  language  law 
and  a  clear  enunciation  of  where  we  stand  on  these  matters  or 
shall  we  drift,  increasing  bitterness  and  misunderstanding  in  our 
own  country  and  leading  eventually  to  complication  abroad? 

America  unconsciously  permits  exploitation  which  necessitates 
that  foreign  governments  shall  protect  their  own  people  here. 
Shall  there  be  a  law  regulating  the  activities  of  private  employ- 
ment agencies  doing  an  interstate  business,  of  private  bankers 
covering  both  deposits  and  transmission  of  money  abroad,  of 
colonization  and  land  schemes  involving  as  they  do  interstate 
transactions;  of  steamship  ticket  agents  performing  a  variety  of 
international  services  as  well  as  selling  tickets? 

We  now  deal  with  immigration  with  little  knowledge  of  con- 
ditions abroad.  Our  own  official  knowledge  of  peoples  in  Amer- 
ica is  based  on  a  decennial  census.  The  results  are  not  ordinar- 
ily available  until  they  are  two  or  three  years  old.  Is  not  the 
world  moving  too  fast  and  our  own  country  changing  too  rapidly 
to  consider  people  as  statistics?  Shall  we  continue  to  do  this  or 
shall  we  base  our  selection  upon  the  reports  of  experts  abroad 
who  will  advise  accurately  and  impartially  of  foreign  conditions 
including  movements  of  population,  conditions  of  unrest,  etc.? 
Is  it  not  just  as  important  to  know  manpower  conditions  and 
tendencies  as  to  know  trade  conditions  and  not  through  self-in- 
terested and  political  but  through  scientific  and  non-partisan 
channels  ?  Shall  we  find  no  better  way  of  keeping  in  touch  with 
the  strangers  in  our  gates  than  in  aggregate  masses  of  statistics 
several  years  old? 

From  Immigration  in  Reconstruction.  North  American  Review.  209: 
199-208.  February,  1919. 

THE   AMERICAN   LIBRARY   ASSOCIATION 

The  attitude  of  the  American  Library  Association  toward  the 
work  of  Americanization  (or  "Citizenship")  is  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing statement,  which  has  been  officially  adopted  by  its  Ex- 
ecutive board  with  the  recommendation  that  it  be  given  wide  dis- 


344  AMERICANIZATION 

tribution  as  indicative  of  the  methods  which  librarians  have  suc- 
cessfully pursued. 

A  statement  of  things  which  have  been  done  by  libraries  to 
promote  citizenship: 

1.  They  have  gained  the  adult  foreigner's  confidence  and 
good  will. 

2.  They  have  educated  themselves  in  his  needs,  prejudices, 
racial  characteristics  and  native  responses. 

3.  They  have  afforded  him  democratic,  hospitable  places 
— libraries — in    which    the    usefulness    and    the    recreational 
quality  of  books,  magazines  and  newspapers  have  been  dis- 
covered by  him  and  to  him. 

4.  They  have  cooperated  with  established  organizations,  local, 
state  and  federal,  for  his  education. 

5.  They  have  instituted  new  ways  of  procedure  in  helping 
him,  such  as  the  use  of  the  foreign  language  press  as  a  medium 
of  instruction;    of  foreign  language  lectures  for  teaching  illiter- 
ates; of  neighborhood  classes  for  teaching  citizenship,  English 
language  and  home-making. 

6.  They  have   given   or  promoted   homelands   exhibits   and 
municipal  parties  at  which  respect  and  admiration    have  been 
shown  for  his  handiwork  and  customs  with  an  increase  of  his 
own  self-respect. 

These  things  they  have  shown  to  be  practical  even  though 
they  have  been  obliged  chiefly  through  lack  of  funds  to  discon- 
tinue them  as  soon  as  their  utility  was  established.  Furthermore 
they  have  discovered  a  dearth  of  such  informational  material  in 
foreign  languages  as-  would  quickly  educate  a  reader  in  Amer- 
ica's ideals  and  give  him  strong  incentives  to  learn  English  and 
to  throw  in  his  lot  wholeheartedly  with  this  country. 

They  have  urged  federal  government  bureaus,  publishing 
houses  and  school  systems  to  cause  to  be  printed  in  foreign  lan- 
guages and  to  be  made  immediately  available  for  his  instruction, 
such  information,  as  he  and  his  family  need  to  help  them  to  be- 
come happy  and  desirable  Americans. 

They  have  established  hundreds  of  foreign  branch  libraries 
in  congested  quarters  of  towns  and  cities;  and  have  sought  out 
and  listed  the  best  books  available  in  many  different  immigrant 
languages,  and  have  simplified  methods  of  making  the  same 
quickly  available. 


AMERICANIZATION  345 

They  have,  in  short,  while  held  by  their  libraries'  daily  ex- 
acting routine,  learned  much  of  new  peoples  and  new  languages, 
that  they  might  make  their  libraries  more  valuable  to  foreign- 
speaking  residents,  thus  making,  in  some  cases,  their  branches 
into  neighborhood  information  bureaus. 

American  libraries  have  not  only  carried  out  work  as  above 
described  for  foreign-speaking  residents;  but  have  also  done 
like  work  to  aid  persons,  old  and  young,  who  were  born  in  this 
country  but  had  not  been,  by  home,  school  or  other  training, 
properly  equipped  for  citizenship. 

This  statement  was  drawn  for  the  American  Library  Association 
Committee  on  Enlarged  Program  and  adopted  by  them,  prior  to  its 
adoption  by  the  Executive  Board.  The  statement  has  been  furnished 
for  this  Handbook  by  Mr.  George  B.  Utley,  Secretary  of  the  Association. 

AMERICANIZING   OUR   FOREIGN-BORN 

ROYAL  DIXON 
AUTHOR  OF  "AMERICANIZATION/"'  ETC. 

Unity  is  the  watchword  of  civilization  to-day,  and  in  America 
we  are  taking  practical  steps  to  nationalize  our  people  of  numer- 
ous races  and  tongues.  One  of  the  most  patriotic  and  successful 
endeavors  in  this  direction  is  being  accomplished  by  the  League 
of  Foreign  Born  Citizens. 

This  organization  came  into  being  in  response  to  a  natural 
law.  It  has  grown  spontaneously,  as  a  result  of  a  demand  not 
previously  filled.  Its  origin  lay  in  the  fundamental  desire  of 
every  human  being  to  realize  himself  more  fully,  and  through 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  this  can  only  be  accomplished  by 
banding  together  for  a  discussion  of  common  problems,  a  shar- 
ing of  common  joys  and  sorrows,  and  a  stimulation  of  common 
ideals  of  social  service  and  human  brotherhood. 

The  League  was  founded  in  December,  1913,  by  Nathaniel 
Phillips,  a  lawyer,  a  product  of  the  New  York  Public  Schools, 
of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York  and  of  the  New  York 
University.  Mr.  Phillips  is  himself  foreign  born,  having  come 
from  Russian  Poland  thirty  odd  years  ago,  while  less  than  a 
year  old.  His  foreign  ancestry,  together  with  his  American  train- 
ing and  his  innate  appreciation  of  democracy's  ideals,  gave  him 
that  insight,  sympathy  and  understanding  which  eminently  fit  him 
to  be  the  head  of  such  an  organization, — a  civic  leader  and  social 
interpreter. 


346  AMERICANIZATION 

When  the  idea  of  helping  the  immigrant  first  took  definite 
form,  neither  Mr.  Phillips  nor  the  four  men  associated  with  him 
believed  that  the  little  organization  they  started  would  so  soon 
win  national  recognition  and  become  a  force  in  the  nation  to 
sustain  and  support  it  in  an  hour  of  world  crisis. 

It  was  in  a  little  room  on  East  Third  Street  in  New  York 
City  that  the  League  started.  Its  national  offices  are  now  at  303 
Fifth  Avenue;  its  Downtown  branch  is  at  95  Second  Avenue 
(been  designated  as  one  of  the  centres  for  War  Information). 
It  has  a  Staten  Island  and  a  Yorkville  branch  and  travelling 
branches  at  various  settlement  houses  and  community  centers. 
During  the  first  year  its  membership  grew  from  five  to  five 
hundred  and  at  the  present  time  it  numbers  more  than  3,000. 
Good  moral  character  is  the  only  requisite  for  admission  to  mem- 
bership. 


Helped  all  Races,  Creeds  and  Classes 

When  it  started,  enthusiasm  and  idealism  were  the  League's 
sole  assets.  Over  the  door  hung  this  sign : 

Are  you  an  American  Citizen? 

If  Not,  Why  Not? 

We  Will  Help  You,  Free,  To  Become  a  Citizen. 
Come  In.    You  Are  Welcome. 

It  was  displayed  in  three  languages.  Daily  crowds  passed  the 
little  room  on  East  Third  Street  before  a  single  inquirer  dared 
venture  in.  Many  interested  ones  had  passed  it  by,  fearful  lest 
it  was  another  unscrupulous  enterprise  in  disguise,  aiming  at 
private  profit  by  exploiting  the  simple  confidence  and  civic  inter- 
est of  foreign-born  residents.  That  such  practices  were  possible 
reflects  upon  our  national  and  municipal  consideration  of  those 
who  come  to  our  shores  seeking  to  become  an  integral  part  of 
our  civic  and  social  structure.  It  emphasizes  a  neglect  in  a  mat- 
ter of  the  utmost  national  importance.  In  the  past  we  have  left 
the  newly  arrived  immigrant  unattended  and  unaided.  We  had 
left  him  at  the  mercy  of  an  industrial  system  which  dealt  with 
the  foreigner  perfunctorily,  utilizing  his  man  power  but  giving 
him  little  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of  his  human  aspira- 
tions. 


AMERICANIZATION  347 

Ours  is  a  nation  of  many  races,  creeds,  classes  and  contacts. 
It  has  been  formed  of  the  free  born  spirits  of  the  world,  come 
here  seeking  opportunity.  We  are  dedicated  to  the  ideal  of 
equality  of  opportunity  for  all.  We  are  a  commonwealth  in 
which  the  greatest  good  can  be  realized  only  when  every  in- 
dividual member  of  the  body  politic  is  exercising,  to  his  best 
and  fullest  capacities,  the  faculties  of  head  and  hands  and  heart. 
Knowing  this  we  have,  nevertheless,  in  the  past,  done  prac- 
tically nothing  to  properly  nationalize  our  newly  arrived  immi- 
grants. 

The  objects  of  the  League  of  the  Foreign  Born  Citizens  helps 
carry  out  this  great  opportunity  in  our  national  life.  Its  object 
is  directly  and  indirectly  to  do  effective  service  in  a  field  both 
officially  and  unofficially  long  neglected. 

The  Need  of  a  Better  Understanding  Recognized 

There  had  existed  many  organizations  formed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  aiding  those  newly  arrived  at  our  shores ;  but  their 
efforts  were  centered  upon  facilitating  the  immigrant's  entrance 
into  America  and  rendering  easier  his  first  days  in  the  new  coun- 
try. There  their  function  ceased;  and  at  that  point  the  League 
takes  up  the  problem  of  interpreting  America  to  the  newcomer 
and  assisting  him  in  his  social  and  civic  assimilation. 

The  League  recognized  that  there  is  great  need  of  a  better 
understanding  not  only  between  the  citizens  and  the  newcomers 
but  also  between  the  younger  and  the  older  generations  of  the 
immigrants  themselves.  The  younger  element  becomes  Amer- 
icanized more  quickly.  This  often  leads  to  impatience  and  in- 
tolerance on  the  part  of  the  younger  citizens ;  they  lose  sight  of 
their  parents'  viewpoint  and  get  out  of  sympathy  with  their  gen- 
eral attitude  toward  the  questions  of  the  day.  They  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  readily  conform  their  parents  to  new  moulds. 

To  breach  this  gulf  and  to  foster  a  better  understanding,  the 
League  is  organizing  social  groups,  giving  lectures,  and  educating 
the  foreign-born  through  the  columns  of  the  press.  The  work  is 
divided  into  a  number  of  bureaus,  and  these  are  conducted  by 
volunteer  workers  who  give  their  service  without  any  remunera- 
tion whatever. 

The  Bureau  of  Naturalization  attends  to  applicants  for  citi- 


348  AMERICANIZATION 

zenship,  informing  them  concerning  questions  of  eligibility,  and 
all  other  details  pertaining  to  taking  out  first  papers  and  becom- 
ing an  American  citizen.  The  Naturalization  work  is  divided 
into  three  grades.  Applicants  are  assisted  in  the  preparation  of 
their  citizenship  papers ;  taught  to  read  and  write  English  and  by 
arrangement  with  the  County  Clerk's  office,  their  blanks  are 
stamped  with  the  signature  of  the  League,  and  the  naturalization 
clerks  readily  issue  the  official  first  papers  to  applicants  presenting 
the  stamped  blanks.  Applicants  have,  by  this  means,  saved  hours 
and  often  days  when  they  come  to  the  County  Clerk's  office  with 
their  blanks  fully  prepared  for  them  at  the  League. 

Applicants  for  second  papers  are  aided  in  the  preparation  of 
the  blanks  for  their  second  papers  and  are  assisted  in  obtaining 
their  Certificate  of  Arrival. 

Classes  in  the  history  and  principles  of  our  government  are 
held.  Applicants  are  instructed  in  the  meaning  of  our  Constitu- 
tion and  are  taught  to  answer  questions  necessary  for  a  proper 
appreciation  of  American  institutions. 

How  to  Help  the  Foreign  Born 

The  League  found  an  appalling  inertness  on  the  part  of  a  vast 
number  of  immigrants  toward  taking  the  steps  necessary  for  be- 
coming citizens.  The  reasons  were  of  course  largely  the  inac- 
cessibility of  the  naturalization  courthouses  and  the  time  con- 
sumed in  the  making  of  the  preliminary  blanks  at  the  Court. 
But  more  than  these  actual  obstacles  was  the  vague  belief  that 
the  process  itself  was  so  difficult  to  understand  and  to  overcome. 

The  foreign  born  are  getting  to  know  of  the  existence  of  the 
League  and  to  understand  that  it  welcomes  prospective  citizens ; 
that  it  solves  doubtful  problems  with  regard  to  eligibility;  that  it 
saves  them  time  and  needless  worry.  In  short,  the  very  existence 
of  the  League  has  aroused  citizenship  activity  amongst  the 
people.  The  records  contain  the  names  of  a  number  of  appli- 
cants who  have  been  in  this  country  fifteen  years,  and  some  of 
them  as  long  as  twenty  years,  without  having  taken  steps  toward 
naturalization.  They  are  now  on  their  way  toward  citizenship. 

The  League  hopes  to  bring  about  in  New  York  City  a  method 
which  is  proving  successful  in  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  whereby  great 
saving  in  time  for  prospective  citizens  and  for  the  courts  can  be 
accomplished.  The  plans  are  as  follows : 


AMERICANIZATION  349 

The  members  of  the  Naturalization  Classes  are  to  receive  a 
diploma  from  the  League  at  the  close  of  their  course  of  instruc- 
tion. This  diploma  will  be  accepted  by  the  Courts  as  evidence  of 
satisfactory  knowledge  of  the  Constitution  and  the  history  of 
our  government,  and  will  be  accepted  by  the  Judge  in  lieu  of  the 
examinations  to  which  applicants  are  now  subjected. 

Securing  Important  Legislation 

The  Public  Welfare  work  of  the  League  is  in  charge  of  the 
Committee  on  Laws  and  Legislation.  This  Committee  assisted  in 
defeating  objectionable  features  in  the  Federal  Immigration  bill. 
It  has  been  instrumental  in  changing  the  New  York  State  Law 
which  prohibited  non-citizens  from  laboring  on  public  work,  so 
they  may  be  enabled  to  secure  positions  in  grades  of  work  for 
which  citizens  are  generally  unsuited ;  it  has  helped  to  fight  the 
movement  to  curtail  the  free  public  library  system ;  it  has  ob- 
tained from  the  City  Government  the  adoption  of  a  policy  where- 
by peddlers  were  permitted,  for  a  two-week  period  prior  to  the 
Passover  and  Tabernacle  Holy  Days,  wider  privileges  for  vend- 
ing their  wares  throughout  the  city ;  it  has  been  in  the  forefront 
in  the  fight  to  continue  the  Free  Floating  Baths  in  New  York 
City;  it  has  been  aiding  in  the  efforts  to  extend  the  Widow's 
Pension  Law  to  the  widows  of  those  who  have  not  yet  attained 
full  citizenship;  it  was  amongst  the  most  active  of  the  organiza- 
tions that  helped  defeat  legislation  aimed  at  weakening  the  New 
York  State  Tenement  House  Law. 

Some  time  ago  at  Cooper  Union,  the  League  conducted  a 
public  "Experience  Meeting,"  at  which  the  heads  of  the  New 
York  City  Government  told  what  they  had  already  accomplished 
and  what  they  plan  to  do.  A  leading  New  York  paper  comment- 
ing editorially,  said,  "This  meeting  under  the  auspices  of  the 
League  of  Foreign  Born  Citizens,  is  said  to  be  the  first  of  its 
kind  ever  arranged  in  New  York  City.  It  is  an  interesting  at- 
tempt to  bring  an  administration  face  to  face  with  the  public  it 
serves." 

Helping  the  Foreigner  to  Americanization 

In  the  great  Loyalty  Parade  of  July  Fourth  the  only  march- 
ing group  that  was  not  distinctly  racial  was  that  of  the  League. 


350  AMERICANIZATION 

Theirs  was  the  only  organization  that  paraded  as  such  and  the 
only  one  that  typified  the  unification  of  our  country.  There  were 
twenty-two  different  nationalities  in  the  unit,  men  and  women 
who  had  become  citizens  since  America  entered  the  war. 

Further  practical  efforts  toward  creating  a  national  and  inter- 
national unity  of  ideals  of  political  freedom  is  exemplified  in  the 
fact  that  the  original  call  for  the  celebration  of  Bastile  Day  in 
New  York  was  planned  and  issued  by  ten  organizations  of  which 
the  League  was  one. 

Open-air  meetings  are  held  once  a  week.  At  important  street 
corners  throughout  New  York  large  crowds  are  addressed  by 
members  of  the  League  and  by  others  interested  in  the  work. 
The  people  are  informed  concerning  the  objects  of  the  League, 
and  are  encouraged  to  come  to  the  headquarters  and  to  send 
their  friends  who  are  desirous  of  becoming  citizens.  Public 
questions  in  which  the  League  is  interested  are  discussed  in  open 
forum,  and  the  speaker  endeavors  to  answer  questions  put  to  him 
by  his  hearers.  Members  of  the  campaign  committee  circulate 
amongst  the  crowd,  taking  down  the  name  and  addresses  of 
those  who  desire  additional  information  concerning  the  League. 
Those  who  signify  their  interest  receive  a  letter  within  a  day  or 
two  thereafter,  inviting  them  to  call  at  the  headquarters. 

Toward  the  close  of  each  month  the  League  tenders  a  recep- 
tion to  those  who  have  become  citizens  within  the  current 
month.  The  New  Citizens  each  receive  cards  of  invitation  for 
themselves  and  their  friends.  They  are  addressed  by  the  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  who  presided  in  the  Court  when  they  were 
inducted  into  Citizenship.  In  addition  to  these  Justices,  other 
men  and  women,  eminent  in  the  life  of  the  community,  are 
speakers.  A  musical  entertainment  is  also  provided.  The  League 
publishes,  in  foreign  languages,  for  distribution  amongst  prospec- 
tive citizens,  leaflets  and  manuals  to  help  interpret  to  them  the 
spirit  of  American  institutions. 

The  League  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  an  active  factor  in 
civic  and  communal  affairs.  Its  work  is  gradually  telling  and 
government  officials  frequently  call  upon  this  organization  to  aid 
them  in  public  causes.  The  League  is  arousing,  in  thousands  of 
people,  hitherto  indifferent  to  public  questions,  a  civic  conscious- 
ness. 

Americanising  our  Foreign-born.     Forum.  60:444-32.     October,   1918. 


AMERICANIZATION  351 

WHAT    EVERY    AMERICANIZATION    WORKER 
SHOULD  KNOW 

1.  The  background  of  the  life  of  the  foreign-born. 

a  Geography  of  the  native  land 

b  Main  features  in  its  history 

c  Social  and  political  life 

d  Religious  life 

e  Education 

/  Racial  characteristics 

2.  The  reasons  for  coming  to  America. 

a  Economic 
b  Social 
c  Political 
d  Religious 
e  Military 

3.  The  means  by  which  the  foreign-born  may  best  satisfy  the 

longing  which  brought  him  here. 
a  Finding  the  work  he  is  best  fitted  to  do 
b  Learning  the  language  of  America 
c  Becoming  acquainted  with  American   laws,    customs 

and  standards  of  living 
d  Becoming  a  citizen 
e  Learning  to  know  the  outside  agencies  which  can  help 

him  and  enlarge  his  vision 
/  Cooperating  with  the  native  American  to  promote  and 

uphold  real  Americanism 

4.  The  most  successful  ways  and  means  of  teaching  English 

and  the  principles  of  American  citizenship  to  the 
foreign-born. 

5.  The  value  and  beauty  of  all  that  the  foreign-born  brings 

us  in  his   "gifts  of  mind,  heart  and  hand." 

6.  The  ideals  of  our  democracy  as  set  forth  in  the  constitu- 

tion. 
-a  Political  life;     "A  government  of  the  people,  by  the 

people  and  for  the  people" 
b  Social  life ;   "A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that" 
c  Industrial  life;     "A  square  deal" 
d  Religious  life;    "Freedom  to  worship  God" 


352  AMERICANIZATION 

7.  The  ideals  of  our  democracy  as  determined  by  the  united 

purpose  of  foreign-born  and  native-born  to  create  a 
new  and  better  America. 

8.  The  necessity  of  the  foreign-born  joining  hands  with  the 

native-born  to  make  these  ideals  of  our  democracy  a 
living  reality. 

From  Immigrant  Education.  New  York  State  University  Bulletin. 
p.  3.  March  i,  1919. 

AN   IMMIGRANT'S   PROGRAM   OF 
AMERICANIZATION 

Members  of  the  class,1  in  the  course  of  the  week,  formed  a 
committee  to  outline  a  tangible  Americanization  program  on  lines 
such  as  they  conceived  most  in  keeping  with  their  own  ideals. 
This  program  is  here  given  in  full : 

1.  Similar  courses  on  immigration  in  other  cities,  given  not 
entirely  by  Americans,  but  also  by  immigrant  leaders  of  broadest 
sympathies.    Such  courses  might  be  given,  with  especial  profit,  in 
universities,  university  extension  classes,  normal  schools  and  high 
schools. 

2.  Courses  on  internationalism  in  the  public  schools,  in  which 
the  history  of  other  peoples  shall  be  sketched  more  sympathetic- 
ally and  fair-mindedly  than  is  usual,  in  which  translations  of  the 
best  in  other  literatures  shall  be  read,   in  which    the  political, 
economic  and  social  problems  of  other  nations  shall  be  studied, 
in  which  international  societies  (scientific,  socialistic,  capitalistic, 
etc.)    and   means   of   international   communication,    such   as   the 
Postal  Union,  shall  be  studied. 

3.  That  such  organizations  as  the  Cosmopolitan  Clubs  in  our 
universities  be  cherished  through  these  troublesome  and  difficult 
times.    The  serious  problems  of  reconstruction  and  international 
relations  will  demand  of  our  children  and  present  student  bodies 
greater  understanding  of  foreign  peoples  than  we  have  had. 

4.  That  ministers  be  encouraged  to  give  series  of  addresses 
von  comparative  religion;    better  still,  that  they  have  those  ad- 
dresses given  by  adherents  of  the  various  religious  beliefs. 

5.  That  our  magazines  be  encouraged    in  the  printing    of 
translations  of  the  best  articles  in  the  current  publications  of 
other  countries. 

1  Of  foreign-born  leaders  lecturing  on  immigration  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Immigration  Department  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  of  San  Francisco. 


AMERICANIZATION  353 

6.  That  congenial,  informal,  discussional  groups  be  formed 
of  Americans  and  representatives  of  other  nationalities,  and  our 
homes  be  thrown  open  socially  to  foreigners  of  social  status  and 
intellectual  power  and  interests  similar  to  our  own. 

7.  That  pictures  and  descriptive  material  be  furnished  some 
of  our  daily  papers,  stressing  the  ideals  with  which  the  immi- 
grants come,  and  the  difficulties  we  leave,  or  put,  in  the  way  of 
their  realization,  to  aid  in  overcoming  the  prevalent  American 
sense  of  superiority. 

8.  That  industrial  leaders  be  encouraged  to  see  the  financial 
gain  to  themselves  of  teaching  foreigners  such  English  as  will 
enable  them  to  understand  simple  directions,  and  such  acquaint- 
ance with  the  tools  and  aims  of  the  business  as  will  make  them 
more  intelligent  workers. 

9.  That,  in  general,  an  attempt  be  made  to  keep  from  re- 
ducing the  contribution  of  the  immigrant    to    terms    of  mere        *  $ 
muscle. 

10.  That  more    "home  teachers,"  like  those  provided  for  by 
the  California  law,  be  supplied  for  teaching  English  to  foreign 
women  in  their  homes,  accompanied  by  assistants  who  can  take 
care  of  the  children  while  the  mothers  are  studying. 

11.  That  the  foreign  language  press  be  given  encouragement 
in  printing  articles  on  the  various  free  educational  and  artistic 
facilities  available  in  each  community. 

12.  That  public  libraries  add  to  their  collection  of  books  in 
foreign  languages,  and  to  their  translations  into  English  of  the 
best  works  from  other  countries. 

13.  That  we  see  to  it  that  it  can  no  longer  be  said  that  the 
only  American  acquaintances  of  the   immigrant  are  the   cheap 
politician  and  real  estate  shark. 

THE   AMERICAN   HOUSE 
HARRY    L.    SENGER 

EDITOR  THE  SCHOOL  INDEX,  CINCINNATI 

Long  before  we  entered  the  world  conflict  Supt.  Randall  J. 
Condon  of  the  Cincinnati  public  schools,  noting  the  meager  at- 
tendance at  classes  in  English  for  foreigners^  determined  to  begin 
From  article  in   Survey.     40:596-7.     August  24,    1918. 


354  AMERICANIZATION 

an  active  campaign  looking  toward  the  more  rapid  assimilation 
of  the  immigrant  population.  The  American  House  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  monument  to  his  constructive  enterprise. 

Investigation  showed  that  beside  the  public  schools  two  other 
organizations  were  interested  in  the  Americanization  problem,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Immigrant  Welfare  Association. 
Through  the  efforts  «f  Superintendent  Condon  the  latter  two 
societies  were  brought  to  combine  their  activities  with  those  of 
the  schools  as  represented  by  the  Department  of  Civic  and  Voca- 
tional Service.  The  merger  resulted  in  the  formation  of  an 
Americanization  Executive  Committee  under  the  chairmanship  of 
the  superintendent  and  consisting  of  two  members  from  each  of 
the  three  agencies  ^named  and  a  seventh  member  representing 
the  foreign  element.  Recently  there  have  been  added  to  the  com- 
mittee a  representative  of  the  women's  organizations  and  one 
from  the  Hamilton  County  Council  of  National  Defense.  After 
several  months'  careful  search  throughout  the  country,  Chairman 
Condon  found  a  person  fitted  by  nature  and  training  for  the  post 
of  director  of  the  committee's  work — a  foreign  born  citizen,  a 
fervid  patriot  yet  full  of  sympathy  for  the  immigrant,  a  man  of 
inexhaustible  energy,  George  Eisler,  formerly  editor  of  a  dem- 
ocratic newspaper  in  Hungary  and  for  many  years  engaged  in 
various  kinds  of  social  welfare  work  in  the  United  States. 

For  a  whole  year  Mr.  Eisler,  occupying  cramped  quarters  in 
the  rooms  of  the  Board  of  Education,  has  been  planning  the 
American  House.  Within  this  time  the  property  selected  has 
been  remodeled  at  a  cost  of  $10,000  granted  from  the  war  chest 
of  the  Hamilton  County  Council  of  National  Defense.  From 
the  budget  commission  of  the  Council  of  Social  Agencies  there 
was  obtained  an  appropriation  for  maintenance  of  $9,000  for  this 
year  and  $13,720  for  the  next.  The  building  is  fifty-nine  years 
old  and  belongs  to  the  Bellamy  Storer  estate.  It  is  the  center  or 
a  population  of  8,000  Rumanians,  5,000  Hungarians,  1,500  Ser- 
bians and  a  large  number  of  old  German  settlers. 

In  his  office  on  the  second  floor  Mr.  Eisler  has  filed  away  a 
collection  of  12,500  cards  giving  important  data  concerning  every 
foreigner  whose  children  attend  the  public  schools.  Another  file 
contains  cards  relating  to  every  person  in  Cincinnati  who  has 
taken  out  first  citizenship  papers  since  1916.  These  cards  are 
arranged  according  to  nationalities  and  by  means  of  tabs  may  be 
redistributed  according  to  wards,  consecutive  street  numbers  or 


AMERICANIZATION  355 

alphabetical  sequence  of  names.  On  another  group  of  cards  1,500 
local  societies  beside  175  foreign  societies  are  listed. 

The  most  striking  thing  about  the  furnishings  of  the  American 
House  is  not  their  evident  beauty,  but  the  fact  that  they  were 
secured  through  the  cooperation  of  various  women's  organiza- 
tions. Thus  the  director's  office  has  been  furnished  by  Ruth 
Lodge  and  the  Woman's  Club ;  the  library  by  the  Women  Teach- 
ers' Association  and  the  Girls'  Friendly  Society;  the  study  room 
by  the  Woman's  City  Club;  the  quiet  games  room  (for  check- 
ers, chess,  dominoes  and  billiards)  by  the  Council  of  Jewish 
Women;  the  women's  rest  room  by  the  Woman's  Catholic  Fed- 
eration ;  the  kitchen  and  lunch  room  with  full  equipment  by  the 
Federation  of  Mothers'  Clubs.  Many  other  organizations  have 
contributed. 

Since  hardly  one  building  out  of  five  hundred  in  the  vicinity 
contains  a  bathtub,  excellent  bathing  facilities  are  provided  by 
the  American  House.  Attached  to  the  tubs  and  showers  are  anti- 
scalding  and  anti-chilling  devices.  The  fire  under  the  boilers  is 
automatically  shut  off  when  the  water  has  reached  130  degrees. 
Such  safeguards  are  required  because  of  the  foreigner's  ignor- 
ance of  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  the  average  American 
home.  Every  room  has  a  separate  electric  switch  so  that  the  en- 
tire building  may  not  at  any  one  time  be  plunged  into  darkness 
with  resultant  panic.  Various  patriotic  societies  have  donated 
the  furnishings  for  the  auditorium  which  will  seat  300  people. 
In  it  are  a  moving  picture  machine  and  a  victrola.  Suitable  cur- 
tains provide  a  stage  effect.  In  a  park  beside  the  house  there  are 
benches  under  a  pergola  for  a  shady  retreat  on  sultry  afternoons. 
A  society  of  Rumanians  has  contributed  $75  (one  dollar  for  each 
member)  for  a  statue  of  Liberty  to  be  placed  in  the  park. 

Four  conditions,  according  to  Director  Eisler,  are  required 
before  the  American  House  will  be  able  to  achieve  its  mis- 
sion. These  conditions,  now  in  process  of  development,  may 
be  briefly  indicated  as  follows: 

1.  The  native  American  must  be  induced  to  look  upon   the  foreigner 
with   more  than  toleration — with   friendliness   and  broad  human  sympathy. 

2.  As  the  immigrant  has  been  admitted  to  full  and  free  participation 
in    our    industrial    life,    so    must   be    given    opportunity   to    develop    his   in- 
dividuality  along    other   lines   of   human    activity.     The    gatherings    at    the 
American  House  have  already  revealed  two  or  three  instances  of  extraord- 
inary  musical   and   dramatic   ability. 

3.  There  must  be  equal  educational  opportunity. 

4.  The    foreigner    must    be    given    assistance    in    many    ways    so    that 
he    may    readjust    his    ideas    so    violently    dislocated   by   his    transfer   to    a 
strange   land   and   to   a  new   industrial,   civic   and   social   environment. 


356  AMERICANIZATION 

In  order  to  realize  these  conditions,  the  American  House 
has  broken  away  from  the  traditional  "settlement"  idea. 
In  the  settlement  house,  as  such,  there  is  always  the  danger 
that  the  head  worker  will  be  something  of  an  autocrat  and 
that  leadership  will  not  arise  spontaneously  but  will  be  im- 
posed from  above.  In  the  American  House,  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  nothing  of  paternalism.  Its  activities  are  based  upon 
the  cooperation  of  all  rather  than  the  direction  of  a  few. 

The  management  embodies  the  ideals  of  representative 
government.  The  executive  committee  and  its  director  act 
merely  in  an  advisory  capacity.  In  the  near  future  there  will 
be  formed  a  federation  of  the  175  foreign  societies  in  the 
city,  and  to  its  officers  the  new  institution  will  be  turned 
over.  The  federation  will  assign  space  to  the  different  na- 
tionalities and  fix  dates  for  meetings.  It  will  also  make 
known  to  the  director  what  kinds  of  group  work  are  de- 
sired. 

The  activities  at  the  American  House  are  conducted  with- 
out cost  to  the  foreigner.  It  serves  the  community  in  a  social 
sense  as  the  public  schools  are  serving  it  educationally.  The 
ultimate  object  in  view  is  the  organization  of  an  agency  to 
oversee  the  development  of  the  stranger  within  our  gates  and 
to  provide  for  his  proper  education,  civic  training,  naturaliza- 
tion and  all  steps  necessary  to  make  him  a  desirable  and  com- 
petent member  of  the  community.  It  is  a  large  enterprise, 
beset  with  many  difficulties.  But  it  has  been  undertaken  with 
an  intelligent  sympathy  and  an  energy  wholly  new  to  such 
activity.  The  great  victory  has  made  democracy  safe  against 
attack  from  without.  Cincinnati  in  its  American  House  has 
erected  a  fortress  against  the  dangers  that  threaten  from 
within. 

The  American  House.     Survey.     41:788-90.     Mr    i,    1919. 


AIMS   AND    STANDARDS    IN    INDUSTRIAL 
AMERICANIZATION 

^)  CHARLES  H.  PA.ULL 

During  the  past  few  years  a  great  deal  has  been  done  and 
said  in  the  name  of  Americanization.  Many  well-meaning  efforts 
have  been  expended,  more  or  less  fruitlessly,  partly  through  a 
lack  of  appreciation  of  the  full  significance  of  the  term  Amer- 


AMERICANIZATION  357 

icanization,  and  partly  because  unsatisfactory  methods  were  em- 
ployed. On  the  other  hand,  the  method  of  trial  and  error  has 
led  to  much  improvement  in  the  administration  of  English  classes 
and  other  Americanization  activities.  One  result  of  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past  has  been  the  development  of  a  definite  idea  of 
what  the  term  "Americanization"  implies.  The  definition  given 
above  places  emphasis  upon  the  social  aspect  of  the  work,  and  in 
so  doing  strikes  the  keynote  of  all  that  is  meant  by  the  term. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  first  part  of  the  above  definition 
the  aim  has  been  to  avoid  any  implication  that  American  ideals 
can  be  imparted  to  the  individual  without  a  definite  reaction  on 
his  part.  The  definition  also  distinguishes  between  mechanical 
and  inspirational  material.  Under  mechanical  material  is  in- 
cluded the  learning  of  the  language,  which  will  be  discussed  later 
as  the  necessary  tool  or  instrument  for  conveying  ideas.  The 
third  important  element  of  the  definition  emphasizes  again  the 
necessity  for  response  on  the  part  of  the  individual.  He  must 
not  only  be  voluntarily  receptive,  but  he  must  also  be  inspired 
with  the  impulse  to  live  out  in  his  own  experience — in  his  leisure 
hours  and  in  his  daily  toil — the  new  conceptions  which  his  mind 
has  made  a  definite  effort  to  obtain. 

Three  Divisions  of  Americanization  Work 

Americanization  work  according  to  the  definition  can  be 
divided  under  three  headings : 

1.  Teaching  the  language. 

2.  Preparation  for  citizenship. 

3.  Presenting  material  and  situations  which  will  inspire  the 

individual  to  a  larger  expression  of  himself  in  his  home, 
in  his  work,  and  his  community. 

It  will  be  obvious  at  once  that  this  division  is  pedagogical 
rather  than  actual,  as  each  element  overlaps  the  other.  For  in- 
stance, it  would  be  impossible  to  teach  the  language  without  con- 
veying ideas ;  and  the  ideas  which  the  teacher  naturally  attempts 
to  convey  have  to  do  with  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  his 
environment. 

However,  in  outlining  any  scheme  of  Americanization  work 
which  involves  the  teaching  of  English  it  is  important  to  remem- 
ber that  the  work  divides  itself  as  suggested  above.  In  this 
trilogy  of  activities  it  is  obvious  that  without  the  first  mechanical 


358  AMERICANIZATION 

step  the  other  two  are  largely  impossible.  The  learning  of  the 
language  is,  therefore,  the  gate  which  must  be  swung  open  in 
order  to  permit  the  contacts  implied  under  the  second  and  third 
headings. 

This  brings  us  naturally  to  a  point,  which  is  forcing  itself  more 
and  more  into  the  foreground :  Ought  we  under  our  democratic 
form  of  government  to  insist  upon  persons  learning  our  lan- 
guage ?  Looking  at  the  question  from  the  standpoint  of  the  state, 
may  we  not  be  criminally  negligent  when  we  do  insist  upon  the 
use  of  a  common  language?  Without  the  language  the  non- 
American  cannot  appreciate  American  ideals.  In  cases  of  crises 
it  is  difficult  even  to  make  an  immediate  appeal  to  him,  first  be- 
cause his  mind  has  not  been  prepared  for  it,  and  secondly  because 
the  appeal  must  be  made  by  some  one  of  his  own  race  who  may 
or  may  not  be  available  at  the  time.  From  the  standpoint  of  in- 
dustry the  need  for  the  understanding  of  a  common  language  is 
equally  pressing.  The  five  points  suggested  below  bring  out  some 
of  the  evils  which  arise  from  the  lack  of  a  common  medium  of 
speech  in  industrial  plants. 

Five  Evils  Arising  from  Lack  of  Common  Speech 

1.  Accidents  frequently  occur  because  employees  are  not  able 
to  understand  warnings  and  directions. 

2.  Cliques  form  in  various  parts  of  the  plant  on  the  basis  of 
nationality.     The  tendency  of  these  cliques  is  frequently  to  de- 
velop rather  than  to  dispel  misunderstandings  between  workers 
and  employers. 

3.  Misunderstandings  develop  because  employees  are  not  able 
to  understand  terms  of  employment  and  regulations,  which  seem 
to  them,  through  ignorance,  unreasonable. 

4.  Labor   turnover   is   increased  because   of   dissatisfaction 
arising  out  of  housing  conditions  which  are  forced  upon  non- 
American  laborers  by  unscrupulous  speculators. 

5.  The  worker  fails  to  develop  a  personal  interest  in  his  job 
and  in  the  plant  in  which  he  works  because  he  cannot  talk  with 
those  about  him  who  are  better  informed  than  he. 

Furthermore,  we  must  remember  that  whatever  is  of  ad- 
vantage to  the  community  is  also  of  advantage  to  the  individual. 
The  worker  gains  nothing  and  loses  much  by  failing  in  a  local  or 
national  crisis.  No  one  will  argue  that  it  was  ever  to  the  ad- 


AMERICANIZATION  359 

vantage  of  a  worker  to  be  temporarily  or  permanently  disabled 
through  accident.  Imaginary  grievances  never  react  to  his  ad- 
vantage, and  if  he  has  a  real  grievance  he  is  much  more  capable 
of  protecting  himself  if  he  understands  the  language  of  the  per- 
sons who  are  in  a  position  to  remedy  conditions  which  are  un- 
favorable to  him.  It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  quote  the  many 
disadvantages  to  the  worker  of  being  exploited  because  of  his 
lack  of  familiarity  with  our  language  and  with  our  customs. 
Finally,  too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  placed  upon  the  value  to 
the  worker  of  feeling  at  home  in  his  community  and  in  his  work- 
shop. This  feeling  will  only  develop  to  its  full  value  when  he 
can  talk  with  the  men  about  him  who  can  give  him  broader  con- 
tacts with  his  surroundings.  They  can  and  should  help  him  to  an 
appreciation  of  his  significance  in  his  community  and  in  the  or- 
ganization of  the  plant  in  which  he  works. 

Interest  of  State  in  Compulsory  Education 

Turning  again  to  compulsory  education  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  state,  objectors  maintain  that  it  is  interfering  with  a  man's 
liberty  to  insist  upon  his  learning  the  language.  This  argument 
can  be  answered  in  two  ways:  First,  the  state  has  the  right  to 
inaugurate  measures  which  are  necessary  for  the  preservation  and 
maintenance  of  its  integrity  and  well-being.  To  be  sure,  the 
non-American  is  not  a  voter.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that 
he  lives  in  a  community  with  other  people,  that  he  walks  the 
streets,  that  he  observes  or  violates  the  laws  of  that  community 
makes  him  an  important  factor  in  its  life  regardless  of  whether 
he  has  any  voice  in  electing  its  officers.  In  the  second  place, 
there  seems  to  be  no  fundamental  difference  between  insisting 
upon  an  adult  attending  school  and  insisting  upon  a  minor  attend- 
ing school,  providing  that  the  result  in  both  cases  shall  be  of 
marked  value  to  organized  society. 

Many  people  at  the  present  time  argue  that  an  industrial  or- 
ganization is  practicing  unwarranted  coercion  in  insisting  upon 
its  employees  learning  English.  Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  a  worker  applying  for  a  job  has  a  serious  rupture  instead  of 
a  serious  lack  of  knowledge  of  our  language.  No  one  would 
question  the  right  of  the  firm  to  refuse  to  hire  such  a  man  on 
the  basis  that  he  would  be  too  great  a  risk.  There  is  no  exag- 
geration in  thinking  of  the  non-English  speaking  employee  as  a 


3<x>  AMERICANIZATION 

risk  which  may  at  any  time  come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  com- 
pensation laws.  It,  therefore,  does  not  seem  any  more  arbitrary 
for  a  company  to  insist  that  the  worker  make  himself  safe  by 
learning  our  language,  than  that  he  make  himself  safe  by  an 
operation  which  will  eliminate  his  hernia.  In  this  connection, 
the  educational  program  of  the  New  York  State  Federation  of 
Labor  as  quoted  in  the  Government  publication,  "School  Life," 
Oct.  16,  1918,  includes  the  following  significant  provision:  "Ac- 
quisition of  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  American  language  by  con- 
tinuous shop  and  .school  instruction,  supervised  by  State  educa- 
tional authorities,  to  be  required  of  all  employed  foreign  language 
aliens  as  a  condition  of  continued  employment." 

In  following  the  discussion  of  the  previous  paragraphs  one 
point  must  be  borne  constantly  in  mind.  This  is  that  the  learning 
of  English  is  simply  the  acquiring  of  the  tools  of  common 
speech,  and  that  while  the  state  or  industry  may  find  it  necessary 
to  insist  that  the  individual  learn  the  language,  it  must  not  in  any 
way  insist  upon  his  accepting  opinions  without  the  exercise  of 
his  own  volition. 

Industry  Must  Take  Initiative 

How  far  shall  the  industry  go  in  the  development  of  a  scheme 
of  teaching  English  to  its  employees?  Education  is  primarily  a 
public  function  and  as  far  as  possible  should  be  carried  on  by 
public  agencies.  Unfortunately  in  the  case  of  the  teaching  of 
English  and  in  other  Americanization  activities  many  public 
agencies  have  been  extremely  conservative  in  offering  adequate 
opportunities  for  adult  education.  The  work  of  the  industry  in 
various  communities  can  be  classified  under  two  heads : 

1 i )  Cooperation  of  the  industry  with  local  agencies. 

(2)  Offering  schooling  through  classes  financed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  industry  where  the  community  fails  to  meet  adult 
educational  needs. 

No  argument  seems  necessary  to  justify  the  organization  and 
maintenance  of  classes  by  a  fair-minded  industry  where  the  com- 
munity fails  to  provide  such  classes.  On  the  other  hand  the  in- 
dustry should  be  careful  to  ascertain  that  it  is  not  over-looking 
possible  facilities  which  already  exist 

Different  communities  demand  different  degrees  of  coopera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  industries.  In  some  cases  financial  assist- 


AMERICANIZATION  361 

ance  may  be  needed  to  pay  a  portion  of  the  salaries  of  teachers. 
In  others  it  may  be  desirable  for  industries  to  supply  textbooks 
and  stationery.  No  hard  and  fast  rule  can  be  laid  down.  It  is 
probably  desirable  to  have  as  many  schemes  of  cooperation  as 
there  are  communities  carrying  on  Americanization  work.  There 
are,  however,  certain  elements  of  efficient  organization  of  classes 
which  the  industry  only  can  contribute. 

Classes  in  the  Plant 

In  the  past,  adult  education  has  been  carried  on  usually 
through  evening  schools.  Such  a  scheme  required  the  worker  to 
devote  three  or  four  evenings  a  week  to  attending  classes.  He 
went  home  from  work,  ate  his  evening  meal,  washed  himself  and 
dressed  in  his  best  clothes,  and  went  to  his  class  which  met  at 
seven  or  half  past  and  lasted  until  nine  or  half  past.  By  this 
plan  only  the  more  ambitious  and  energetic  men  attended  evening 
school  classes  regularly.  The  man  who  had  home  duties,  or  who 
found  it  difficult  to  make  up  his  mind  to  go  out  three  or  four 
evenings  a  week,  either  never  enrolled  in  these  classes  or  else 
enrolled  and  dropped  out  before  he  had  learned  much  that  would 
be  of  value  to  him. 

The  more  desirable  scheme,  which  is  being  successfully  fol- 
lowed in  a  number  of  communities  is  to  establish  classes  in 
various  industries  which  men  may  attend  directly  upon  leaving 
their  work  or  at  some  intermission  in  their  working  day.  By 
organizing  classes  in  the  plant  the  worker  is  saved  the  time  in- 
volved in  going  to  and  from  an  evening  class.  It  is  true  that  for 
a  number  of  evenings  a  week  he  reaches  home  an  hour  later  but 
this  is  far  more  satisfactory  to  the  man  and  to  his  family  than 
to  have  him  away  for  the  entire  evening.  Furthermore,  by  hav- 
ing the  class  within  the  plant  the  worker  is  made  to  feel  more 
directly  the  economic  value  of  learning  the  language.  Finally  the 
worker  passes  directly  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  class  manage- 
ment, thereby,  even  under  a  voluntary  system  of  attendance,  in- 
suring a  more  regular  interest  in  the  learning  of  English. 

The  objection  that  the  worker  has  no  chance  to  recover  from 
the  weariness  of  his  day's  work  when  he  goes  directly  to  his 
class  may  very  well  be  raised,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  it 
might  be  better  if  there  were  no  objections  to  allowing  time  to 


362  AMERICANIZATION 

intervene  between  his  working  day  and  his  hour  of  class  room 
work.  However,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  his  weariness  is 
physical  and  not  mental.  By  careful  planning  the  fatigue  of  the 
day's  work  may  be  relieved  at  least  in  part.  Some  companies 
have  tried  serving  a  lunch  to  the  men  just  before  they  begin 
their  study  hour.  Where  facilities  are  available,  a  shower  bath 
might  prove  an  excellent  tonic. 

Two  Ways  of  Securing  Attendance 

As  has  been  suggested  in  a  previous  paragraph  there  are  two 
ways  of  obtaining  attendance  at  English  classes: 

(1)  By  offering  special  inducements  or  by  setting  forth  the 
advantages  of  training  and  leaving  it  to  the  volition  of  the  in- 
dividual whether  he  shall  attend  classes. 

(2)  By  setting  forth  the  advantages  of  training,  and  be- 
cause of  its  relation  to  the  welfare  of  the  community,  insisting 
that  every  one  avail  himself  of  it. 

If  the  state  makes  the  learning  of  English  compulsory  it  at 
once  relieves  other  agencies  of  this  responsibility.  Up  to  the 
present  time  federal  and  local  law  makers  have  taken  very  little 
action  along  this  line.  Consequently,  in  most  communities  the 
industry  itself  must  face  the  problem  of  deciding  what  its 
responsibilities  are  in  the  matter.  When  an  industry  decides 
that  for  its  own  good  and  for  the  good  of  the  community 
it  will  employ  no  workers  who  have  not  a  minimum 
knowledge  of  the  language,  the  industry  must  establish  schools, 
providing  there  are  none,  and  make  other  arrangements  for 
training  its  workmen.  In  this  connection  the  wage  problem  pre- 
sents itself.  What  will  the  worker  say  when  he  is  required  to 
spend  an  extra  hour  in  attending  a  factory  school? 

Some  plants  have  in  the  past  arbitrarily  said  that  he  must 
attend  the  school  or  suffer  certain  penalties.  This  the  worker 
feels  is  an  injustice.  Such  a  policy  if  carried  out  consistently 
would  tend  to  breed  dissatisfaction  and  thereby  reduce  the  effi- 
ciency of  those  men  who  are  affected  by  it.  A  far  better  scheme 
is  to  pay  the  employee  while  he  is  attending  the  factory  school. 
His  pay  should  be  based  upon  the  average  hourly  wage  which  he 
receives  in  the  factory.  In  some  plants  at  the  present  time  in- 
stead of  paying  the  entire  hourly  wage  only  a  half  is  paid  for 


AMERICANIZATION  363 

attendance  at  the  English  class.  In  this  way,  both  the  plant  and 
the  worker  bear  part  of  the  cost  of  carrying  on  the  school  on 
the  principle  that  each  receives  definite  benefit  from  the  English 
class. 

Steps  in  Setting  Up  English  Classes 

In  undertaking  a  scheme  of  English  classes  there  are  certain 
definite  steps  which  should  be  followed: 

(1)  Survey  of  plant  needs.    This  should  determine  the  num- 
ber of  men  who  need  work  in  English  classes,  their  nationalities, 
their  classification  by  age  groups,  certain  facts  regarding  their 
homes,  and  length  of  employment  in  the  plant,  etc. 

(2)  Conferences   with    foremen    to   interest    them    in   the 
scheme.    The  foreman  is  the  representative  of  the  plant  policy. 
He  has  definite  contact  with  the  worker  so  that  it  is  highly  im- 
portant that  all  foremen  have  as  keen  an  appreciation  as  possible 
of  the  real  significance  of  Americanization  work  not  only  in  re- 
gard to  teaching  English  but  also  in  its  relation  to  other  activi- 
ties. 

(3)  Conferences  and  plans  of  cooperation  with  local  educa- 
tional agencies;  the  public  schools,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  etc. 

(4)  Conferences  with  leaders  of  various  natural  groups  to 
lead  them  to  appreciate  the  attitude  of  the  industry  and  of  the 
community. 

(5)  General   publicity    campaigns   which   will   reach    every 
workman  by  means  of  literature  and  speeches  in  his  native  lan- 
guage.    The  purpose  of  this  campaign  should  be  to  establish 
definitely  in  the  minds  of  each  individual  the  principles  upon 
which  Americanzation  work  is  carried  on. 

(6)  Development  of  plans  for  the  coodination  of  work   in 
English  classes  with  all  other  agencies  of  Americanization  in  the 
industry  and  in  the  community. 

Having  gone  through  these  preliminary  steps  the  industry  or 
the  community  ought  to  be  ready  to  take  up  the  problem  of  class 
organization.  There  is  one  preliminary  step  which  has  not  been 
mentioned  but  which  may  be  often  found  of  value.  This  is  con- 
sulting with  agencies  outside  the  community.  General  advice 
obtained  from  those  who  have  already  developed  English  classes 
ought  to  be  of  marked  value.  On  the  other  hand  in  most  in- 
stances it  is  not  desirable  for  a  plant  or  a  community  to  employ 


364  AMERICANIZATION 

someone  who  will  come  in  for  a  specified  length  of  time  and  or- 
ganize and  conduct  English  classes.  This  work  ought  to  be  done 
by  a  member  of  the  community,  provided  a  person  with  a  broad 
understanding  of  community  needs  and  a  practical  human  sym- 
pathy is  available.  If  it  is  necessary  to  obtain  a  director  from 
the  outside  he  ought  to  become  a  permanent  employee  of  the 
plant  if  possible  and  he  ought  not  to  undertake  the  organization 
of  work  until  he  has  lived  in  the  community  some  little  time. 
The  outsider  who  comes  in  for  only  a  short  period  may  do  more 
harm  than  he  does  good,  for 

(1)  He  will  not  have  an  appreciation  of  plant  traditions. 

(2)  He  will  not  have  a  very  great  appreciation  of  local  com- 
munity needs. 

(3)  He  will  not  have  had  time  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
workers  in  the  plant  or  in  the  community  in  which  the    plant  is 
located. 

(4)     He  will  not  have  to  stay  with  his  job  after  his  time  is  up. 
In  developing  a  vocabulary  in  the  l^nglish  class  two  sorts  of 
words  should  be  taught. 

(1)  Those  words  which  have  to  do  with  a  man's  work  in  the 
plant. 

(2)  Those  words  which  have  to  do  with  his  activities  out- 
side the  plant. 

For  convenience  we  may,  therefore,  speak  of  the  worker's 
vocational  and  avocational  vocabularies.  From  the  very  start  the 
man  should  learn  words  which  deal  with  the  following  phases 
of  his  work: 

(1)  Understanding  of  orders. 

(2)  Use  of  special  industrial  terms. 

(3)  Use  of  safety  terms. 

(4)  Action  words  common  to  the  industry. 

Under  the  avocational  vocabulary  are  included  words  which 
the  individual  would  use  in  his  home  and  in  his  community. 
Among  the  words  of  the  home  are: 

(1)  Parts  of  the  body. 

(2)  Articles  of  furniture. 

(3)  General  household  terms. 

(4)  Action  words. 

Under  the  words  of  the  community  are  included: 
(i)     Salutations. 


AMERICANIZATION  365 

(a)  Names  of  public  buildings. 

(3)  Names  of  vehicles. 

(4)  General  community  terms. 

(5)  Action  words. 

This  brief  outline,  of  course,  can  be  elaborated  upon  almost 
without  end. 

Textbooks 

There  are  at  present  available  a  number  of  good  textbooks  for 
the  teaching  of  avocational  words.  To  a  large  extent  such  a 
vocabulary  is  general  though  it  is  desirable  that  each  community 
develop  special  lessons  applicable  to  its  own  peculiar  needs.  From 
the  very  nature  of  the  vocational  vocabulary  no  general  textbook 
can  be  written.  Each  industry  must  develop  a  textbook  which 
will  be  of  value  to  its  own  workers.  Some  important  work 
along  this  line  has  already  been  done  though  the  industry  with 
special  lessons  for  its  own  English  speaking  employees  is  still  the 
exception  rather  than  the  rule.  The  scope  of  this  discussion  is 
too  limited  to  deal  with  methods  of  conducting  classes.  Within 
the  past  few  years  some  very  valuable  material  has  appeared  on 
this  subject  and  is  available  to  those  wishing  to  organize  English 
classes. 

The  following  summary  emphasizes  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant principles  of  Americanization  work  which  have  been 
touched  upon  in  the  foregoing  discussion : 

Principles  of  Americanization  Work. 

(1)  Americanization  cannot  be  defined  as  simply  learning 
the  language.    It  is  exceedingly  broad  in  its  scope  and  the  learn- 
ing process  continues  throughout  the  life  of  the  individual. 

(2)  Americanization  work  should  not  be  confined  to  per- 
sons  of  non-American  extraction.      Many  people  born  in    the 
United  States  need  to  be  brought  into  sympathy  with  the  non- 
American  just  as  much  as  he  needs  to  be  brought  into  sympathy 
with  them. 

(3)  The  learning  of  the  language  provides  only  the  tools 
of  contact  to  the  individual,  so  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  develop 
an  intelligent  appreciation  of  American  conduct  and  ideals. 

(4)  The  menace  of  the  non-English  speaking  alien  is    so 
great  to  his  community  and  to  himself  that  we  ought  to  con- 
sider carefully  the  desirability  of  insisting  upon  his  learning  the 
language  if  he  is  to  remain  in  the  country. 


366  AMERICANIZATION 

(5)  Those  undertaking  Americanization  work  should  be  ab- 
solutely sincere  in  their  purpose,  as  any  scheme  which  bears  even 
the  faintest  taint  of  exploitation  will  react  harmfully  upon  the 
worker  and  upon  the  cause  of  Americanization. 

(6)  It  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  no  element  of 
condescension   can   safely  be    introduced    into  Americanization 
work.    There  is  much  that  the  new  American  can  teach  us  if  we 
are  in  the  right  attitude  of  mind,  and  we  can  teach  him  very  little 
if  we  are  not 

(7)  Above  all  things  avoid  paternalism. 

(8)  The  final  purpose  of   all  Americanization  work  is  to 
develop  self-acting,  progressive  Americans. 

(9)  Education  is  primarily  a  public  function  and  the  industry 
should  take  the  initiative  only  where  the  community  has  failed. 
It  should  always  be  ready  to  cooperate. 

(10)  Above  all  things  it  should    be    borne    in   mind  that 
"Americanism"   is  a  state  of  the  heart  as  much  as  it  is  a  state  of 
the  mind.    It  is  a  feeling  as  much  as  it  is  a  thought. 

Industrial  Management.     57:148-51.     February,    1919. 

AMERICANIZATION,    WHAT    IS    IT, 
WHAT  TO  DO 

What  Every  American  Can  Do 

'i.  Win  your  way  with  our  new  American  neighbors.  Do  not 
force  yourself  upon  them.  Help  them  to  understand  you  while 
you  try  to  understand  them.  Foster  the  trust  of  all  and  let  them 
see  in  you  fairness,  sincerity  and  toleration. 

2.  Avoid  comparison  of  races  to  their  detriment.    Remember 
that  all  races  have  a  native  capacity  for  good  citizenship. 

3.  There  is  a  great  need  on  the  part  of  all  the  native-born  for 
"a  passion  for  patience"    which  is  inconsistent  with  the  criticism 
of  the  immigrant's  ignorance  of  our  institutions  or  law. 

4.  Remember  that  the  language  of  the  immigrant  is  dear  to 
him  for  home  and  religious  purposes  and  the  intimate  relations 
of  his  life.     Respect  his  language  and  he  will  learn  ours  more 
willingly. 

5.  Americanization  is  a  call  for  the  appreciation  of  America 
and  the  understanding  of  the  fact  that  even  this  country  is  in  the 
making.     Coercive  Americanization,   like  coercive  loyalty,  does 
not  make  for  good  citizenship. 


AMERICANIZATION  367 

6.  Make  the  term    "Americanization"    definite,  signifying    a 
common  language,  a  common  citizenship,  a  common  standard  of 
living,  and  a  realization  that  we  are  all  the  pioneers  of  the  Amer- 
ica that  is  to  be. 

7.  The  immigrant  is  a  human  being,  much  as  you  and  I,  and 
the  way  you  approach  and  treat  your  friends  is  the  way  to  suc- 
cess with  him. 

What  the  Business  Man  Can  Do 

1.  Don't  waste  men.    It  is  important  that  efficiency  be  main- 
tained. 

2.  Conserve  men.     Go  further  than  eliminating  waste  and 
see  that  the  safety,  sanitation,  and  housing  of  your  men  is  keep- 
ing them  fit. 

3.  Every  man  or  woman  who  does  not  speak  English  should 
be  learning  it.    Insist  upon  your  employees  learning  it  in  school 
or  in  your  shop  and  designate  one  of  them  to  see  that  it  gets 
done. 

4.  Urge  the  public  educational  authorities  to  start  language 
classes  in  the  factory  for  those  who  do  not  understand  English 
and  are  unable  to  attend  school.    Efficiency  increases  with  knowl- 
edge of  English  and  citizenship.    Give  it  recognition  by  increased 
wages  and  promotion. 

5.  Stop  anti-American  propaganda  and  agitation  the  instant 
it  raises  its  head  in  your  plant  by  providing  information  and  co- 
operation on  true  Americanism. 

6.  Invite  naturalization  officers  to  explain  citizenship  to  your 
aliens  and  to  encourage  them  to  make  America  their  home.    Give 
them  time  off  with  pay  to  attend  their  naturalization  examina- 
tions. 

7.  Develop   incentives  through   wages,   hours,   bonuses,    in- 
surance pensions,  safety,  profit-sharing  and  co-operative  manage- 
ment.   The  employer  who  keeps  his  men  at  work  contentedly  to- 
day is  America's  most  practical  patriot. 

What  the  Young  Person  Can  Do 

i.  Learn  the  names  of  the  heroes,  statesmen,  artists,  and 
musicians  of  the  immigrant  races  and  look  them  up  in  biographies 
so  that  you  may  appreciate  the  traditions  of  the  immigrant. 


368  AMERICANIZATION 

2.  Treat  your  immigrant  playmate  with  the  same  American 
courtesy  that  you  accord  others  and  avoid  racial  nicknames. 

3.  Invite  them  to  your  parties  with  the  same  freedom  that 
you  invite  others.    Have  some  of  them  at  your  home  on  the  great 
American  holidays  that  they  may  understand  what  they  mean. 

4.  Whenever  you  can,  help  them  with  the  language  and  see 
that  they  get  the  right  pronunciation.    Do  not  laugh  at  their  mis- 
takes. 

5.  Get  them  to  teach  you  things  about  their  country  and  cus- 
toms.    Listen  to  their  fairy  tales,  learn  their  folk  dances  with 
them. 

6.  Read  Stoddard's  Lectures  and  other  books  of  travel  to 
become  familiar  with  the  beautiful  homeland  of  the  immigrant. 
If  possible,  visit  museum  exhibits  of  their  arts  and  crafts  so  that 
you  may  appreciate  what  the  immigrant  can  bring  to"  America. 

7.  Arrange  school  debates  on  Americanization  topics,  such  as 
"Should  the  Learning  of  the  English  Language  Be  Compulsory 
for  the  Immigrant?"       "Should  the  Naturalization  of  Foreign- 
Born  Wives  Be  Dependent  on  the  Status  of  Their  Husbands?  " 

What  the  Immigrant  Can  Do  For  Himself 

1.  Learn  English,  the  mother  tongue  of  over  seventy  millions 
of  our  native  and  foreign-born. 

2.  Find  ouj  all  you  can  about  America — its  history,  its  laws, 
its  customs  and  its  ideals.     Plan  to  live  in  America  permanently 
and  to  buy  a  home. 

3.  Use  your  native  advantages,  background  and  culture  for 
the  advancement  of  America.     Remember  this  is  your  America. 
You  must  do  your  part  to  make  it  stronger  and  greater,  so  that 
all  the  people  can  be  happier  here. 

4.  Respect  and  obey  our  laws.     They  are  made  by  the  people 
in  the  interest  of  all. 

5.  Take  out  your  first  papers  and  declare  your  intention  to 
become  a  citizen  of  the  country,  if  you  are  eighteen  years  old.    It 
costs  only  one  dollar. 

6.  Don't  leave  your   family,  your  house,  your   street,  your 
community  to  take  care  of  itself  or  for  anybody  else  to  take  care 
of;    do  your  own  job  and  get  others  to  do  theirs. 

7.  See  that  your  wife  and  children  have  an  equal  chance 


AMERICANIZATION  369 

with  you  to  know  America,  learn  its  language,  become  citizens 
and  follow  those  ideals  of  social  intercourse  which  belong  to  a 
democracy. 

8.  Do  not  judge  the  nation  by  the  acts  of  a  few  officials  nor 
by  the  emergency  act  of  a  day,  but  by  the  course  of  its  history. 

9.  The  flag  is  what  you  believe  it  to  be.    The  stars  and  stripes 
are  your  dreams  and  your  labor.     You  are  the  makers  of  the 
flag,  and  it  is  well  that  you  glory  in  the  making. 

What  the  Neighbor  of  the  Immigrant  Can  Do 

1.  Help  the  new  Americans  to  feel  at  home.     Go  and  see 
them.    Help  them  to  adopt  an  American  standard  of  living.  Help 
them  to  get  a  reduction  in  food  prices  and  to  get  coal  and  other 
necessities.    Share  the  burdens,  privations  and  self-sacrifice  with 
them. 

2.  Persuade  a  few  of  your  American  neighbors  to  remain  on 
the  street  with  you  when  the  immigrant  moves  in,  and  help  him 
to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  American  life. 

3.  Encourage  immigrants  to  come  to  your  home  to  see  how 
you  cook,  care  for  your  children  and  your  home. 

4.  See  that  your  immigrant   neighbors   are   not   fleeced  by 
sharpers.     Help  them  do  their  marketing. 

5.  Discuss  with  immigrants  their  own  country,  show  interest 
in  their  views,  and  obtain  for  America  the  many  things  they  can 
contribute.    If  you  learn  from  them  they  will  learn  from  us. 

6.  See  that  they  learn  early  the  city  ordinances  relating  to 
school   attendance,   the   sanitary    laws,    carrying  weapons,    and 
tampering  with  freight  cars  on  the  railroads.    Explain  the  bene- 
fits to  all  in  their  observance. 

7.  Be  a  big  brother  to  at  least  one  family  and  break  down 
the  barriers  between  old  and  new  Americans. 

8.  See  that  the  immigrant  mother  and  sister  whose  sons  and 
brothers  are  not  at  home  have  protection  and  comfort.     They 
have  new  responsibilities  and  cares  and  are  alone  in  a  new  land. 

What  Women  Can  Do 

1.  Be  neighborly  with  immigrant  families.    Take  at  least  one 
immigrant  family  and  be  a  friend  and  neighbor  and  an  inter- 
preter of  America  to  them. 

2.  Make  every  national  holiday  Americanization  Day  by  ask- 
ing immigrants  to  your  homes  or  to  some  public  meeting. 


370  AMERICANIZATION 

3.  Give  up  a  part  of  each  day  getting  acquainted  with  your 
immigrant  neighbors. 

4.  Teach  the  language  to  a  class  of  alien  women,  getting  your 
introduction  from  the  schools,  settlements  or  Americanization 
workers. 

5.  Discourage  in  your  children  the  use  of  immigrant  nick- 
names. 

6.  See  that  the  sanitary  conditions  of    the  stores,  houses, 
streets,  and  vacant  lots  in  the  immigrant  sections  receive  equal 
attention  from  the  authorities. 

7.  Get  together.    America  is  a  weak  nation  so  long  as  class 
and  racial  lines  prevail. 

8.  Help  alien  women  in  industry  to  make  right  adjustments 
and  see  that  they  receive  such  protection  as  they  need. 

9.  Encourage  alien  women  to  become  citizens,  and  help  in- 
troduce them  to  our  political  life,  if  you  live  in  a  state  where 
women  vote. 

10.  Provide  special  protection,  care  and  guidance  for  the  im- 
migrant mother,  as  regards  unlicensed  midwives,  and  objection- 
able lodgers.     Help  her  to  keep  pace  with  her  American-born 
children. 

What  the  Churches  Can  Do 

1.  Get  into  contact  immediately  with  immigrants  of  your  own 
faith  and  render  such  service  as  may  be  needed. 

2.  Make  your  church  a  center  for  Americanization  activities. 
It  is  your  fault  if  your  communicants  do  not  speak  English,  are 
not  citizens  and  do  not  meet  real  Americans. 

3.  Avoid  all  criticism  of  or  interference  with  the  religious 
institutions  of  the  immigrant ;    rather  encourage  by  sincere  sym- 
pathy and  cooperation  the  Americanization  of  his  Church,  re- 
membering that  all  religions  have  freedom  of  worship  here. 

4.  Include,  in  study  class,  forum  and  other  programs,  the 
need  and  work  of  Americanization. 

5.  Appoint  an  Americanization  Committee  to  formulate  plans 
and  cooperate  with  existing  official  agencies. 

6.  Furnish  volunteer  workers    for    the    various   forms   of 
Americanization  work— teachers,  visitors,  investigators,  etc. 

7.  See  that  the  entire  church  membership  is  regularly  sup- 
plied with  Americanization  literature.  Write  to  the  headquarters 
of  your  religious  denomination  for  literature. 


AMERICANIZATION  371 

What  the  City  Can  Do 

1.  Request  the  Board  of  Education  to   establish  sufficient 
classes  in  English  and  civics  and  interest  immigrants  in  attending 
them.    Ask  that  home  teachers  in  the  immigrant  sections  be  ap- 
pointed as  domestic  educators. 

2.  Interest  employers  to  appoint  factory  class  teachers  in  all 
plants  willing  to  grant  time  off  to  their  employees  to  learn  Eng- 
lish. 

3.  If  there  is  an  organization  of  demobilized  soldiers  and 
sailors,  call  their  attention  to  the  need  of  having  special  facilities 
for  interpreting  our  laws  as  they  affect  our  foreign-born  popula- 
tion.   Cooperate  with  them  in  doing  this  through  the  various  city 
departments. 

4.  Hold  patriotic  receptions  for  all  newly  naturalized  citizens 
on  national  holidays. 

5.  See  that  every  court  is  provided  with  capable,  impartial 
interpreters,  appointed  after  examination  establishing  character, 
ability  and  experience. 

6.  Appoint  on  library  committees  competent  and  thoroughly 
Americanized  foreign-born  citizens  to  help  selection  of  books  on 
foreign  subjects.     Request  frequent    announcement    of  library 
facilities  at  meetings  of  foreign  societies. 

7.  See  that  all  publicity  work  of  the  Health  Department  and 
other  divisions  of  the  city  government  is  printed  in  the  immigrant 
languages.    Work  to  make  this  unnecessary  in  the  near  future. 

8.  Emphasize  the   fact  that  the    immigrant    problem    was 
created  by  Federal  law  and  should  be  distinctly  a  concern  of  the 
Federal  government. 

What  the  Teacher  Can  Do 

1.  Insist  that  Americanization  shall  be  defined  as  instilling 
American  ideals. 

2.  Help  pupils  and  public  to  know  that  Americanization  com- 
prises three  problems: 

i— Illiteracy, 

2 — Teaching  English  to  non-English  speaking  persons, 

3 — Teaching  American  Ideals  to  everyone. 

3.  Through  your  pupils  and  clergymen,  employers  of  labor, 


372  AMERICANIZATION 

etc.,  list  the  illiterates  and  non-English  speaking    persons,  get 
names,  addresses,  nationality,  and  pertinent  facts. 

4.  Select  from  this  list  those  the  school  can  reach.     See  that 
everyone  of  them  is  properly  approached  and  told  how  and  where 
he  may  receive  instruction.    Make  the  community  slogan   "Not  a 
single  illiterate  by  the  end  of  the  year." 

5.  Enlist  pupils  in    teaching  illiterate    friends  or  relatives 
where  there  is  no  night  school,  or  attendance  at  school  is  impos- 
sible. 

6.  If  not  able  to  take  courses  in  Americanization  and  teach 
in  night  school,  the  teacher  is  in  duty  bound  to  help  Americaniza- 
tion in  other  ways. 

7.  Serve  on  committees  to  direct  public  opinion.     Teach  the 
process  of  naturalization. 

8.  Plan  for  fitting  community  celebration  of  national  holi- 
days and  promote  wider  use'  of  the  school  house. 

9.  Solve  the  problem  of  the  Foreign  Mother  by  establishing 
neighborhood  clubs  with  visiting  teacher  and  nurse  service. 

10.  Form  classes  in  school  and  out  of  school  of  pupils  and 
adults  to  study  the  Ideals  of  America  as  given  in  the  Constitu- 
tion,  Declaration  of   Independence,  and  other  important  docu- 
ments,  so  that  by  understanding  our  ideals,  everyone  may  be 
fortified  with  arguments  against  anti- American  doctrines. 


What  the  Parent  Can  Do 

1.  Emphasize  American  principles  at  every  opportunity 
in   the   minds   of  boys   and   girls.     Remember   they  are   the 
citizens  of  the  future,  and  character  and  habits  are  formed 
early. 

2.  Encourage  the  practice  of  Americanism  among  boys 
and  girls  of  all  ages.    Boys'  and  girls'  clubs  and  fraternities 
should  be  suggested  and  fostered  as  effective  means  for  prac- 
tical patriotism. 

3.  Interest  young  Americans  in  the  new  patriotism  which 
is  a  passion  for  pure  Americanism  and  teach  them  the  glory 
of  equality  and  fellowship. 

4.  Discourage  any  tendency  to  accept  gratuitous  benefits. 


AMERICANIZATION  373 

Demonstrate  the  glory  of  earning  one's  own  way.    Teach  that 
it  is  un-American  to  ask  charity  or  to  accept  tips. 

5.  Spare  no  effort  to  bring  a  thorough  understanding  of 
the  real  meaning  of  American  equality  and  justice  so  that  the 
children  in  turn  may  teach  others. 

6.  Explain  that  every  service  has  its  value  either  spiritual 
or  material,  and  teach  boys  and  girls  to  know  the  difference. 
Do  not  expect  a  child  to  render  a  material  service  and  be 
satisfied  with  a  spiritual  reward.     Teach  him  to  know  the 
value  of  the  service  he  renders. 

7.  Emphasize    in   your    family   life   the   primary   American 
Virtue  of  Thrift  as  practised  by  our  Colonial  Ancestors  and 
epitomized  by  Benjamin  Franklin.     Create  a  scorn  of  waste 
whether  of  material,  effort,  or  energy. 

8.  Encourage  the  growth  of  filial  gratitude  and  responsi- 
bility by  showing  the  mere  money  cost  of  bringing  a  child  to 
maturity.    Help  them  to  form  the  Lincoln  habit  of  continuous 
self-education. 

Pamphlet,    The  National   Security   League.     New   York    1919. 


OOK  Its  GENERAL  LIBR> 
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